The shocking reversal of a Northern Ireland Parades Commission ruling may allow a local lodge of the Protestant Orange Order to march through a Catholic community in Portadown, Northern Ireland, for the first time in almost three decades. The confrontation on Garvaghy Road that has resulted threatens to unravel decades of progress in peacemaking and could even lead to the end of the power-sharing government at Stormont established under the Good Friday Agreement.
The approval of a contested march through a Catholic nationalist neighborhood has sharpened tensions between nationalist and unionist communities across Northern Ireland and led to a standoff between hundreds of protesters blocking Garvaghy Road and about 35 Orange Lodge members who have been camped out on the grounds of the Drumcree Church of Ireland parish, waiting for a chance to march.
The Parades Commission is charged with evaluating and approving marching routes in an attempt to defuse sectarian tensions. It was the past chaos and violence in Portadown over the Garvaghy Road march that led to the establishment of the Parades Commission in the first place in 1998.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland has kept the two groups apart so far. Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said his service intends to see Northern Irish court decrees through but “not at any cost.” He urged continued negotiation toward a peaceful accommodation.
“We all need to focus our efforts on resolving this situation once and for all,” he said in a statement on Sept. 30, adding, “I will not be part of this society moving backwards.”
In a statement released on Sept. 27, Eamon Martin, the archbishop of Armagh and primate of all Ireland, described himself as “deeply saddened that the people of the Garvaghy Road, and of our wider society, find themselves, once again, facing a moment of such tension, fear and uncertainty.”
Referring to “the Troubles”—the decades during which thousands were killed as the future of Northern Ireland was violently contested by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, various loyalist paramilitary groups and the British army—he added, “My first thoughts are with those for whom this situation brings back deeply traumatic and painful memories.”
“I share the sense of shock and disappointment of so many people at recent developments,” he said.
That shock began in August when the decision of the Parades Commission that continued a 28-year prohibition on the Orange march along Garvaghy Road was overturned because of a procedural error. After follow-up court decisions, the Parades Commission conceded on Sept. 25 that a limited march could proceed, provoking the establishment of a human barricade and sit-in by Garvaghy Road residents and their supporters.
Archbishop Martin appealed “for a calm and peaceful response from everyone involved” and “for the patient use of solely lawful and democratic processes to resolve this deeply complex and emotive situation.”
Just a few days later, he issued a joint statement with Church of Ireland Archbishop John McDowell, urging calm.
“We are willing to do all that we are asked to guide the feet of all, in the name, and after the example of Jesus, on the way of peace, and the building up of a better future for all,” the two religious leaders said. “We call for the urgent creation of a constructive, inclusive and reconciling initiative to patiently find a way through this current crisis. Too much is at stake.”
They added: “[W]e cannot think of any time in the last thirty years when this simple message needs to be more urgently heard. How can we be good neighbours to each other? What can we do to patiently, constructively and positively build on all the sincere and generous efforts over recent years to foster mutual trust and understanding among our different traditions?”
“Respect for the rule of law, and use of peaceful and democratic processes are vital to a stable and democratic society, even when they are difficult and challenging,” the archbishops wrote.
“As Christians, we are also called to ask ourselves what is generous, what is neighbourly, what builds up peace and the common good among us? As disciples of Jesus, our golden rule calls us to turn the other cheek, to go the extra mile and ultimately, to ensure that love of God and neighbour is the core value that determines all our actions and decisions.”
The annual Twelfth of July marches of Orange Order members through Catholic communities are considered a triumphalist provocation by Northern Ireland’s Catholics. The marches commemorate the 1690 victory of Protestant King William over Catholic King James at the Battle of the Boyne. The march along Garvaghy Road has been especially contentious over decades and often resulted in violence.
As many as 21 killings between 1996 and 1999 have been connected to the Garvaghy Road dispute, including the infamous firebombing of a home in Ballymoney, County Antrim, by loyalist terrorists that took the lives of three brothers, Jason, Mark and Richard Quinn, aged 8, 9 and 10 in July 1998. In the aftermath of that horror, the Garvaghy Road leg of the Orange march was finally suspended.
The confrontation in Portadown has drawn politicians from all sides into the dispute. Unionist leaders insist that the march must be held in keeping with the commission’s ruling.
Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill, who represents Sinn Fein, the nationalist party historically linked to the Irish Republican Army, faced criticism for attending an unlicensed protest on the Garvaghy Road to support the local community.
“She’s the head of an executive and she is prepared to wilfully disregard the ruling of our courts, the determination by the statutory body charged with determining parades in Northern Ireland,” said Gavin Robinson, who is the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, the largest pro-U.K. party in Northern Ireland.
Ms. O’Neill, whose government is made up of a cross-section of Northern Ireland parties as part of the power-sharing agreement within the Good Friday Agreement, defended her actions, saying that “the progress of the last 28 years have been brought into question by the actions of the Orange Order and those within political unionism that want to drag us backwards.”
With reporting from The Associated Press
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