Northern Ireland secretary denies bowing to Sinn Féin over Orange Order parade ban
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant defended in the House of Commons his decision to ban an Orange Order march in Portadown, saying it helped avoid violence. In the Northern Ireland Assembly, unionists voted to oust four Sinn Féin ministers, but the motions failed.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant on Monday, Oct. 12, rejected unionist accusations in the U.K. House of Commons that he "bent the knee" to Irish republicans by banning a legally authorized Protestant parade in the town of Portadown. The dispute is splitting the region's cross-community government, in which unionists and republicans share power.
Bryant said he barred the Orange Order march, which the independent Parades Commission had permitted, mainly to avoid violence. The Orange Order is a pro-British Protestant brotherhood that many Northern Ireland Catholics revile. For nearly two weeks, thousands of people led by Sinn Féin, the main Irish republican party, blocked the marchers' intended route along Garvaghy Road, the main Catholic district in Portadown. Police kept the two sides apart. The commission had approved a heavily restricted march by 35 Orangemen.
"I utterly reject the charge that I have in any way succumbed to mob rule," Bryant said, adding that things had passed "remarkably peacefully."
Democratic Unionist leader Gavin Robinson accused Bryant of yielding to a threat of violence from Irish Republican Army (IRA) militants who featured prominently in the Garvaghy Road crowd.
Court rulings
On Monday, the Court of Appeal rejected a lawsuit by Garvaghy Road protesters challenging the original Parades Commission ruling. Orange supporters said this keeps open the possibility of a parade down the road, which has not happened since 1997. Separately, Belfast High Court allowed Portadown's Orange lodge to pursue a legal challenge against Bryant and Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, Northern Ireland's police commander. That case will be heard from next Monday. Boutcher rejected unionist calls to resign.
Assembly vote
After a three-hour debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly, unionist members voted unanimously to remove four Sinn Féin ministers, including First Minister Michelle O'Neill, from office for a year. Each motion drew 33 to 34 unionist votes, but 35 lawmakers from Sinn Féin and the SDLP voted against, so the motions failed.
