NI secretary to ban the Drumcree parade

Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant has said he will ban the contentious Orange Order parade at Drumcree.

The dispute has led to a stand-off between Orangemen and nationalist residents of the Garvaghy Road in Portadown lasting almost two weeks.

Sir Chris said the chief constable advised him "it would not be possible to enable the procession to happen without a major intervention which would carry an unacceptable risk of serious injury, disorder and a wider contagion effect across Northern Ireland".

His decision has been welcomed by Sinn Féin and the SDLP, but DUP leader Gavin Robinson said he now needs to "explain what his government intends to do to restore confidence in the rule of law".

The move comes on the 13th day of deadlock between residents and the local district lodge of the Orange Order.

The Parades Commission had ruled that the march, on Sunday 27 September, could go ahead with restrictions in place.

But the parade, from Drumcree Church into Portadown, did not happen due to a large protest on the Garvaghy Road.

Under legislation, a secretary of state can overturn a Parades Commission determination, especially following input from the police.

Sir Chris had been coming under increasing pressure from Sinn Féin and the SDLP to stop the parade.

Chief Constable Jon Boutcher had asked the secretary of state to review the Parades Commission determination allowing the parade.

On Friday night, Sir Chris said: "The Parades Commission have advised me that while ultimately a matter for the courts to determine, the commission is of the view that, in light of this current assessment by the chief constable, the original determination does not now have enduring legal effect.

"Consequently, and in the interests of wider public interest and safety, I've come to the conclusion that the circumstances under which that decision was made have now changed considerably.

"As a result, the procession cannot go ahead as it was determined."

Speaking about Sir Chris' decision, Boutcher said he had outlined to the secretary of state his "current assessment was that all available, lawful and proportionate options to facilitate completion of the procession had been exhausted".

"Any remaining options would have required a substantial public order intervention," he said.

He added: "Further to this, such an operation would in my view have had not only catastrophic long-term consequences for trust and confidence in policing, but for the Northern Ireland Executive and the peace process."

In a statement, the Parades Commission said it "recognises the importance of resolving the issues arising from this dispute and hopes that a way forward can be found through constructive engagement between those concerned".

Earlier, First Minister Michelle O'Neill confirmed she had received a letter from police investigating protests over the Drumcree parading dispute.

On Thursday, the police said they had begun issuing letters inviting people "reasonably suspected" of committing offences linked to the protests to interview.

There were jubilant scenes at a community hall off Garvaghy Road as the decision over the Drumcree parade was confirmed.

Speaking outside the centre, Breandán Mac Cionnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition (GRRC) said that "while this is a win for us tonight, it is one that is still tinged with sadness and with loss".

"There's no real cause for celebration that we have to remember the price that was paid to get this decision over many years."

One woman was heard saying: "Best news we've had in years," while another shouted: "No going back."

Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said the overwhelming sense on the road was "one of relief and one of joy", adding that this "awful threat and this sense of menace has been lifted from the community".

"To have had the prospect of a march down the road was just incomprehensible, nobody could believe that this decision had been landed and the community said from the get go that they would stand strong and united and that they would not have it and they have. Right has won out here."

The Portadown District said the "chief constable has abdicated his responsibility for policing Northern Ireland".

"We further note that the secretary of state has bowed to the republican mob, and rewarded criminality. Again, the consequences should be self-evident," they said.

They said that they "understand the immense anger which is tonight engulfing our community", but appealed for calm.

In a statement on social media, loyalist activist Jamie Bryson said emergency judicial proceedings were being prepared against the secretary of state's decision.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson said "it has been clear in recent days that due to the actions of Sinn Féin and the total disregard for the recent determination in favour of a parade that the PSNI cannot ensure the safe completion of the parade".

"The decision of the chief constable to refer the matter to the secretary of state and his conclusion that the parade cannot proceed is a direct result of republican agitation, mobilisation and the looming threats of potential violence."

On Friday night, Orange Order members again walked to police lines at Drumcree, as they have done regularly over the past two weeks, but were halted.

Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister said the announcement was a "shameful surrender... to mob rule".

However, Alliance deputy leader Eóin Tennyson said the intervention "should now create the space to get this dispute off the streets and into a political process".

Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Claire Hanna also welcomed the decision and said the parade "should never have been given permission in the first place and it never should again".

Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows said a "legal right" had been "defeated by an unlawful blockade".

Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin said in a post on social media that the announcement by Sir Chris would come as a significant relief to the community on the Garvaghy Road".

There has been stalemate in Portadown since the decision to allow an Orange Order march down the Garvaghy Road on 27 September.

That morning, up to 1,000 people - including politicians such as Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill - blocked the road, preventing Orangemen marching from Drumcree Church a mile to the west.

Since then, residents have maintained a constant presence around the road while Orangemen have also repeatedly tried to march the route before being turned back by police.

The chief constable said last week that the consequences of police forcing an Orange Order march down the Garvaghy Road "could be catastrophic".

He had said while the PSNI's objective was to facilitate the determination, this could not be done "at all costs".

As of last Thursday, the policing operation over the dispute had cost about £3m.

Two weeks ago exactly, the Parades Commission issued a determination saying that the Orange Order parade was to be allowed on the Garvaghy Road with restrictions in place.

That prompted a legal challenge from the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition which opposed the march.

The Court of Appeal is considering whether to allow a challenge to the Parades Commission's ruling, which has been lodged by residents.

Drumcree was one of Northern Ireland's most serious parading disputes, when stand-offs in the mid-to-late 1990s over attempts by the Orange Order to march along the Garvaghy Road were accompanied by riots, roadblocks and killings.

When the Orange Order was prevented by police from walking down the route in July 1995, there was a tense stand-off. It was the same for the next three years.

The Parades Commission began operating in 1998 to regulate parades and try to defuse tension around marches.

• What is the Garvaghy Road dispute all about?

Its decision not to allow a march down the Garvaghy Road that summer has been challenged by the order for the past three decades.

Earlier this year the Parades Commission decided that the march could go ahead with restrictions in place after its original decision to stop the march was overturned in court.

History shows there are no easy options when it comes to the Drumcree parade dispute.

Opinions are so deeply divided that any decision is going to cause anger on one side or the other.

Portadown Orange Order and their supporters are furious at the latest turn of events.

Exactly two weeks ago, it was the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition and their supporters who were enraged, by the original decision on the Drumcree parade.

That fury did not turn into violence on the streets.

The hope is that the outcome is the same this time.

With the Portadown parade dispute causing so much tension in recent weeks, politicians know that there is still a need to keep searching for a lasting solution.

At the moment, with feelings running so high, that looks impossible.