The Northern Ireland secretary of state, Chris Bryant, has banned the Drumcree parade following a 13-day standoff between the Orange Order and nationalist residents.
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 the decision followed advice from Jon Boutcher, 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 had ruled two weeks ago that a small, circumscribed march could proceed along Garvaghy Road — reversing 28 years of successive bans. However, 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, describing it as bringing 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.
Breandán Mac Cionnaith, of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition, said it was the only “sensible, reasonable and logical outcome”.
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,” they said.
The Irish government welcomed the decision and appealed to both sides to seek common ground. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: “This isn’t a time for triumphalism or claiming victories or anything like that. 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, leader of the Democratic Unionist party, 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,” he said. “The framework for both parading and protests now lies in tatters, and the rule of law has been fundamentally undermined.”
Robinson asked the secretary of state to explain what the government will do to “restore confidence in the rule of law”.
Earlier on Friday, the chief constable asked Bryant to review the Parades Commission’s determination, made last month, that conditions in Portadown enabled the parade to go ahead.
Bryant said: “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.”
He thanked Portadown’s Orange Lodge for its “peaceful and law-abiding approach” and expressed regret 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,” he said. “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,” he said.
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.
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