Nocturnal 
Police officers stopped a group of Orangemen trying to march down Portadown’s Garvaghy Road at around 4am on Monday, using a line of Land Rovers to block their path.
It was the latest twist in a stand-off that has gripped Northern Ireland since Sunday, when thousands of protesters occupied the mainly nationalist road to prevent the Orange Order’s Drumcree parade going ahead as planned.
The march had been due to happen for the first time in nearly 30 years, after the High Court in Belfast struck down a legal challenge at 2.15am on Sunday, just hours before the 8am start time. Only 35 Orangemen, without bands or supporters, had been given permission to walk the route.
Why the Garvaghy Road march is so contentious
The Orange Order is a Protestant fraternal organisation, founded in Portadown in 1795, that marches every summer to mark William of Orange’s victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Its traditional Drumcree parade, however, has been banned from completing its route down the largely Catholic Garvaghy Road since 1998.
In the 1990s the Drumcree dispute sparked some of the most serious disorder in Northern Ireland’s history, historically linked to violent clashes and killings, including the murders of young Catholic boys. Since then, the Parades Commission had repeatedly refused the Orange Order permission to finish the route, until this year’s court rulings paved the way for it to go ahead.
Protesters occupy the road, politicians clash
Hundreds, and later thousands, of protesters gathered on the Garvaghy Road from the early hours of Sunday, some wearing balaclavas, and remained there in heavy rain until around midnight. Police maintained a “sterile zone” between the two sides for much of the day while repeatedly warning protesters through loudspeakers that they risked arrest.
Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O’Neill and party president Mary Lou McDonald both joined the demonstrators. O’Neill said the row “brings into question how this whole peace process works”, while McDonald called for the Northern Ireland Secretary and PSNI Chief Constable to “intervene and put a stop to this”, describing the situation as “primitive treatment of any community in the year 2026”.
DUP leader Gavin Robinson accused O’Neill of acting unlawfully, branding the presence of Stormont ministers on the protest “shameful” and claiming it breached their pledge of office. DUP MP Carla Lockhart, who returned to the scene overnight, said the PSNI chief constable needed to “take a grip of this very quickly or his position will become untenable”.
Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant cut short his attendance at the Labour Party conference to hold talks with leaders from both sides, urging them to “double down on compromise”. Officials have also referenced calls from the UK government for “calm on all sides” amid fears the situation could escalate.
Where things stand now
Nigel Dawson, the Orange Order’s Portadown district master, said the organisation had “been open and honest” and was seeking mediation, insisting members have a legal right to complete the parade. Breandán Mac Cionnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition said he was due to meet the Northern Ireland Secretary and the chief constable on Monday, but would not “prejudge those conversations”.
As of Monday morning, the parade had still not passed down the Garvaghy Road, with Orangemen turned back by police for a second time. No resolution has yet been reached, and further talks between the two sides are expected in the coming days.
