Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant bans contentious Drumcree parade
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant has banned the Orange Order's Drumcree parade in Portadown after mediation failed to bridge the divide with local nationalist residents. The standoff had lasted almost two weeks.
Chris Bryant, the UK government's Northern Ireland secretary, has announced a ban on the contentious Drumcree parade in Portadown, Northern Ireland. He said it had not been possible to find accommodation between the Orange Order, a Protestant fraternal organisation, and the nationalist residents of the Garvaghy Road. The ban ends a standoff between the two sides that had lasted almost two weeks.
How the situation developed
Two weeks ago the Parades Commission, the body that rules on disputed marches in Northern Ireland, decided the march could pass along the Garvaghy Road with restrictions in place. However, the parade from Drumcree church into Portadown did not take place because of a large protest on the road.
The secretary's explanation
Bryant told PA Media that everyone would have seen a major standoff and a difficult situation in Drumcree and Portadown over the past two weeks. He said he had tried to find a solution and had brought in both the Garvaghy Road residents and the Orange Order, but the talks had unfortunately not produced one.
He said the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) contacted him earlier in the day and asked him to look again at the Parades Commission's original determination to see whether it should still stand. Having considered the changing situation in Portadown and the great difficulty of the procession going ahead, Bryant concluded that it was not in the public interest for it to proceed, and banned it.
