Orange Order Given Green Light For Garvaghy Road March In U-Turn By Parades Commission
The parade is now set to march through the minority Nationalist area of Portadown this Sunday, 27 September, a move which is likely to spark violent confrontations such as those seen 29 years ago.
The Orange Order have been granted permission to march down the Garvaghy Road for the first time since 1997 following a stunning u-turn by the Parades Commission.
The parade is now set to march through the minority Nationalist area of Portadown this Sunday, 27 September, a move which is likely to spark violent confrontations such as those seen 29 years ago.
The Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition have lodged a judicial appeal against today’s decision.
According to the Commission, the parade is required to leave Drumcree Church at 8am and disperse from Carleton Street Orange Hall by 9.30am.
It has ruled that only the Portadown District LOL No. 1 banner may be carried, with no other flags, emblems or bands permitted along the route. No supporters may accompany or gather along the parade route, or congregate near homes on the Dungannon Road and Drumcree Road.
Socialist republican group Lasair Dhearg described the ruling as "an affront to the residents of the area and a reminder that the illusion of 'peace' provided by the Good Friday Agreement is simply a thin veneer over the old Orange institutions."
"It is not simply a case that we object to this particular march," the group said in a statement. "The sectarianism and bigotry of the Orange Order should have no place in any society. Its sole aim is a return to the complete supremacy enjoyed by Unionism in years gone by."
The group said the Orange Order "has promised a full return next year — hundreds strong, replete with bands," and called the determination "a shot in the arm to a weakened Unionism which has shown it will stop at nothing."
"The residents of the Garvaghy Road have made their voice clear. There is no compromise with the Orange Order.
“Whether 60 strong or 600, they are not welcome and we support the residents in whatever steps they take to resist this imposition of Unionism on their community."
The Drumcree dispute has been one of the most contentious parading issues in Northern Ireland since the mid-1990s.
The 1995 decision to block Loyalists from the road triggered some of the most serious violence of the so-called “peace process” era, including riots, roadblocks and murders.
The Parades Commission was established in 1998 specifically to regulate contested marches after the standoff at Drumcree came close to derailing the peace process. Its refusal to permit a Garvaghy Road march that summer has been challenged by the Orange Order in every year since.
