NewzLONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Andy Burnham called for calm in Northern Ireland on Sunday after a contentious parade was given the go-ahead by the High Court in Belfast in a late-night sitting. Thousands of protesters, many wearing balaclavas, gathered to block the marchers from the Orange Order, a group hugely supportive of Northern Ireland being part of the U.K., from proceeding down a street in the town of Portadown where many favor unification with the Republic of Ireland. Fireworks were set off nearby about five minutes before its 8 a.m.
start time, and protesters were notified on a loudspeaker that they will be liable for arrest for taking part in an unlicensed counter parade. Burnham appealed for “calm on all sides” over the parade, saying there have been “big gains made in Northern Ireland, and we don’t want to see things go backwards.” Sunday’s march marks the first time in almost 30 years that an Orange Order parade has been allowed to go down Garvaghy Road. The road was a notorious flashpoint before the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 largely ended bloodshed that left 3,600 people dead, some 50,000 wounded and thousands bereaved.
In the years before the agreement, there were violent clashes on Garvaghy Road over several summers and requiring major security operations. Ending the Troubles meant balancing competing identities in Northern Ireland, which remained in the United Kingdom when the rest of Ireland won independence a century ago. Irish nationalists in the north — most of them Catholic — seek union with the Republic of Ireland, while largely Protestant unionists want to stay part of the U.K.
Mary Lou McDonald, the president of Sinn Fein, the party historically linked to the Irish Republican Army, said the people of Garvaghy Road would “not be drawn back to the past.” “This is madness,” she said. “This, in fact, is primitive treatment of any community in the year 2026. It is intolerable, and it will not be tolerated.” Gavin Robinson, the leader of the Democrat Unionist Party, the largest pro-U.K.
party in Northern Ireland, called out Sinn Fein leaders for inflaming the situation. “The rule of law cannot apply only when Sinn Fein likes the outcome,” he said. “Our institutions are founded on respect for the police, the courts and the rule of law.” The march was given the final go-ahead at a court hearing which concluded at 2:15 a.m.
Protesters block Garvaghy Road in Portadown, Northern Ireland, to prevent an Orange Order parade from using the route through the mainly nationalist area of the town. (AFP pic)PORTADOWN: UK prime minister Andy Burnham urged a "calm" Sunday as thousands of people gathered in a Northern Irish town seeking to halt a contentious pro-British Protestant march from passing through a mainly Catholic and nationalist area for the first time in 28 years.The tensions spiked after a court in the early hours of Sunday cleared the march by the Orange Order to go ahead.The Parades Commission, Northern Ireland's independent body regulating contentious processions, had authorised 35 Orangemen to march silently along Garvaghy Road in Portadown, without bands or supporters from 8am Sunday.Burnham appealed for "calm on all sides", adding in an interview with BBC television that "big gains" had been made in Northern Ireland "and we don't want to see things go backwards".Northern Ireland was blighted for three decades by conflict between largely Catholic, pro-Irish republicans and Protestant, pro-UK unionists, and the Garvaghy Road became a major flashpoint during the late 1990s.About 2,000 people walked early Sunday in the Garvaghy Road area of Portadown, 25 miles southwest of Belfast, in a counter-protest seeking to prevent the Orange march.There was a heavy security presence, and police held up the Orange Order rally inside a church hall, an AFP correspondent saw.Northern Ireland first minister Michelle O'Neill, of the Irish republican Sinn Fein party, condemned the late-night court ruling allowing the march to go ahead."Our message tonight is clear. Not ever," said O'Neill.She said she supported "the right of the Garvaghy Road residents to protest against this unwanted sectarian march".Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald told reporters as she walked with the counter-protesters that the "residents and community have come out to defend their right to live free from sectarian harassment".Since the 1998 Good Friday peace accords ending the so-called Troubles in Northern Ireland "there has been lots of progress ...
Summary from source