The Northern Ireland secretary of state has banned the Drumcree parade after a 13-day impasse between the Orange Order and nationalists.
Chris Bryant announced on Friday night that it was “not in the public interest” for Orangemen to march the contested route through Garvaghy Road in Portadown, which Catholic residents had blocked.
He said he took the decision after advice from Jon Boutcher, the chief constable of the Northern Ireland Police Service, that the parade “would carry an unacceptable risk of serious injury, disorder and a wider contagion effect” across Northern Ireland.
The Parades Commission ruled two weeks ago that a small, circumscribed march could pass along Garvaghy Road – a reversal of 28 years of successive bans. But police prevented the Orangemen from marching after thousands of residents and supporters, including Sinn Féin leaders, blocked the road.
Garvaghy Road residents welcomed the secretary of state’s decision, saying it brought relief and certainty after a tense standoff that revived memories of the 1990s, when Orangemen fought pitched battles with police in an attempt to march the route.
It was the only “sensible, reasonable and logical outcome”, said Breandán Mac Cionnaith, of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition.
The Sinn Féin leader, Mary Lou McDonald, and the party’s Northern Ireland first minister, Michelle O’Neill, said in a statement that residents had endured fear and anxiety. “There will be an enormous sense of relief within the community this evening.”
The Irish government welcomed the decision and appealed to both sides to seek common ground. “This isn’t a time for triumphalism or claiming victories or anything like that,” said the taoiseach, Micheál Martin. “Those on the unionist, loyalist side will look at this through a different prism. We need to be conscious of that. We need to acknowledge that.”
Gavin Robinson, the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) leader, accused Boutcher and Bryant of bowing to republican agitation and threats of potential violence. “These decisions are a mistake, and send profound signals that the country should be run on force of numbers and who shouts the loudest. The framework for both parading and protests now lies in tatters, and the rule of law has been fundamentally undermined.”
Robinson asked the secretary to state to explain what the government will do to “restore confidence in the rule of law”.
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The chief constable paved the government’s decision earlier on Friday when he asked Bryant to review the Parade Commission’s determination, made last month, that conditions in Portadown enabled the parade to go ahead.
“I’ve looked at the changing situation in Portadown, the fact that it’s very difficult for that procession to proceed, and I’ve decided that it’s not in the public interest for it to proceed, and I’ve therefore banned the procession,” said Bryant.
He thanked Portadown’s Orange Lodge for its “peaceful and law-abiding approach” and regretted that both sides could not reach a compromise, leading to a standoff. “With this in mind, I call for all protests, rallies and demonstrations to be stood down. There is no excuse for a continued ratcheting up of tensions.”
Boutcher said the dispute had affected relationships within and between communities and the police. “It is in everyone’s interest that time and space is now created for conversations about finding long-term solutions to this complex and sensitive issue.”
The dispute has fuelled angry exchanges at the Stormont assembly and destabilised the executive, with unionists demanding O’Neill step down as first minister for allegedly breaking the law at a Garvaghy Road protest.
Earlier on Friday, the PSNI sent the Sinn Féin deputy leader a letter probing alleged criminal offences relating to her involvement in the protest. O’Neill said she will cooperate with the investigation.
