Orange Order to March Garvaghy Road After Overnight Court Drama
A Portadown parade blocked for nearly thirty years will go ahead on Sunday morning, after three court hearings in twelve hours. The Court of Appeal found that the judge who granted an injunction against it had “unfortunately erred in law”, and a second High Court judge then dismissed the residents’ challenge at a quarter past two. Crowds gathered on the Garvaghy Road through the night, remaining largely peaceful.
Drumcree is the dispute that came closest to derailing the peace process, producing some of the most serious disorder in Northern Ireland’s history across successive summers in the 1990s, and the Orange Order has applied for more than a quarter of a century to complete the walk it was stopped from making in 1998. The Parades Commission reversed its long-standing determination on Friday, to the welcome of unionist parties and the outrage of nationalist and republican ones, and hedged it heavily: departure no later than eight in the morning rather than one in the afternoon, thirty-five participants rather than the sixty requested, no bands and no supporters. Justice Patricia Smyth blocked it on Saturday, warning that the dispute “has the potential to escalate” across Northern Ireland. Justice Michael Humphreys, hearing it again after midnight, took the narrower view that courts must respect a public body’s judgement: “This court cannot substitute its own view or anyone else’s view for that of the commission.” For the residents’ spokesman Breandán Mac Cionnaith the ruling settled nothing: “There’s no such thing as justice or rights for our community.” Watch whether the morning stays calm.