A bloody Northern Ireland conflict that can be traced back centuries and which is on the verge of erupting again, has now attracted the attention of international politicians and religious figures.
Despite intensive negotiations, international pressure, and even an extraordinary appeals from Protestants urging the anti-Catholic Orange Order to end its provocation with a parade through the predominantly Catholic Garvaghy Road in Portadown has entered a sixth day with no resolution in sight.
The dispute, which was reported earlier this week by Integrity Magazine, erupted after a Parades Commission in County Armagh permitted members of the Orange Order, which was founded in 1795, to complete their Drumcree parade down Garvaghy Road for the first time since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Although the “Orangemen” secured permission to proceed with a tightly restricted procession of just over 30 members, thousands of Catholic residents and supporters blocked the route Sunday morning. Police eventually decided that forcibly clearing them would create an unacceptable danger.
The Orange Order has made repeated attempts to proceed since then, but police have prevented its members from entering Garvaghy Road each time. On Thursday, Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Jon Boutcher warned that attempting to force the march through a hostile crowd could have “catastrophic” consequences.
Negotiations led by Northern Ireland’s Secretary of State Chris Bryant ended Thursday night without agreement. The dispute will now return to court, with a legal appeal scheduled for Monday, October 5.
A compromise raised during talks between residents and the Order had been viewed more positively by Garvaghy Road representatives than by their unionist opponents. It suggested granting the Order permission to march on the section of the street but that they would simply choose not to do so. Breandán Mac Cionnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition said residents would back the proposal if the Orange Order did as well. But MP Carla Lockhart said a deal requiring Orangemen to walk away from their right to parade was unacceptable, while representatives of the Portadown Orange Order also said the discussion document had failed to move the dispute forward. Politicians from Sinn Féin, which today is a more liberal-oriented party though has historic ties to the country’s Catholic residents, have since visited Garvaghy Road to declare their firm opposition to the march.
Protestants urge Orange Order to withdraw
In a significant development, more than 140 persons from Protestant backgrounds signed an open letter on October 1 appealing to the more hardline Orange Order to end the confrontation. The initiative was publicized by Karen Sethuraman, a Baptist minister and former president of the Irish Council of Churches.
The Dispatch
The letter’s signatories include clergy, academics, community workers, and former politicians. They acknowledged the importance of parading traditions within Protestant communities but warned that the present confrontation threatened progress made since the Good Friday Agreement. They appealed to the Order to consider the wider consequences and bring the standoff to an end.
International pressure is also growing. Fourteen members of the United States Congress belonging to the Friends of Ireland Caucus wrote to Secretary Bryant on October 1 urging the British government to stop the parade.
“This is a consequential moment on the island of Ireland,” Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal wrote in a separate public statement, adding that the parade represented “a return to the divisions of the past” and that Northern Ireland had “come too far to turn back now.”
The congressional letter further warned that permitting the procession could reopen wounds and undermine gains since the 1990s. The document was bipartisan, with its signatories including Neal, GOP Rep. Mike Kelly, and 12 others.
Religious leaders appeal for ‘peace’
Catholic and Anglican leaders have made a joint appeal for a resolution. Catholic Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin and Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh John McDowell have called for dialogue and reconciliation as the crisis continues.
In their October 1 intervention, they asked Catholics and Protestants to pray for “peace” this coming weekend, invoking the prayer traditionally associated with St. Francis of Assisi ahead of his October 4 feast. They even encouraged its use at Sunday Masses and services, as well as in homes and private prayer.
Remarkably, despite the scale of the confrontation and the bitter memories surrounding Drumcree, no violence or injuries had been reported through October 2. Boutcher told the Policing Board that, despite “very significant tensions,” police had kept the situation calm. The peaceful residents have been treated to free concerts and entertainment as they stand alongside the historic thoroughfare, with future rallies planned for this weekend.
Their restraint is significant given the history of the dispute. The Drumcree crisis became one of Northern Ireland’s most dangerous sectarian flashpoints during the 1990s, leading to more than a dozen deaths, and the Orange Order has not completed the disputed Garvaghy Road section of its traditional route since then. The dispute produced repeated confrontations during the years surrounding the Northern Ireland peace process and was central to the debate that led to the creation of an independent system for regulating contentious parades.
Anonymous Catholic social media user FreeIrishMan7, who lives in Ireland, provided the following comment to Integrity Magazine about the situation: “Unless Monday’s appeal or a change in policing hands them an empty street, the nationalists look the likelier to prevail.”
