Northern Ireland court allows Orange Order march through Catholic area — Jerusalem Post

The High Court of Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom rejected a new application to stop a Protestant Orange Order march through the Catholic Garvaghy Road area in Portadown. Earlier, the Court of Appeal overturned a temporary ban on the march, The Jerusalem Post reports.

Court ruling

Residents of Garvaghy Road challenged a decision by Northern Ireland’s Parades Commission, which on Friday allowed the Orange Order to march along this road. The residents obtained a temporary ban on the march on Saturday, but the Court of Appeal overturned it.

The High Court subsequently rejected a new application to stop the procession. Garvaghy Road is a Catholic enclave in predominantly Protestant Portadown. The commission’s decision lifted an almost 30-year ban on holding the march along this route.

Restrictions on the march

The commission ruled that no more than 35 people may take part in the march. The procession must begin before 8:00 a.m. and end by 9:30 a.m. Supporters of the march and musical groups are prohibited from taking part.

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On Sunday morning, protesters gathered on Garvaghy Road to oppose permission for the procession. A video published on social media showed Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill, who is also vice president of the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, and party leader Mary Lou McDonald among them.

Carla Lockhart, a member of the UK Parliament from the Democratic Unionist Party, said outside the court that Sinn Fein and other nationalist politicians must uphold the rule of law and allow the parade to proceed along the route.

The Orange Order’s annual attempts to march through the area had previously caused unrest. The route through Garvaghy Road was banned in 1998, the year the Good Friday Agreement was concluded, which largely ended three decades of violence known as the Troubles.