Northern Ireland: Pro-UK march to go through Catholic area

In Northern Ireland, a Protestant, pro-British organization known as the Orange Order plans to march through a predominantly Catholic and nationalist area on Sunday. This marks the first time the parade has been permitted to pass through the Garvaghy Road in the town of Portadown since 1997. The court recently ruled in favor of the march after various legal challenges, including those that reached Belfast's High Court.

Thirty-five members of the Orange Order will participate in the silent procession without any bands or additional Order supporters. Approximately 2,000 people gathered on the street early Sunday in a counterprotest to halt the march. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham called for calm on all sides, emphasizing that significant progress has been made in Northern Ireland and that the nation does not wish to regress.

Northern Ireland's First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, a member of the Irish republican Sinn Fein party, vehemently opposed the decision to allow the march, calling it unwanted and sectarian. She also stated that there is no going back, neither tomorrow nor ever, further expressing her support for the local residents' protest against the event.

The Democratic Unionist Party MP, Carla Lockhart, argued that local residents have nothing to fear from the thirty-five men walking silently down the road. Garvaghy Road was a focal point of the conflict between Catholic, pro-Irish republicans and Protestant, pro-British unionists during the late 1990s, with clashes often leading to disorder, known as the Drumcree dispute.

The Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which largely ended the three-decade-long Troubles, established The Parades Commission to oversee contentious processions. The Commission had repeatedly denied the Orange Order's requests to march through the area. However, a High Court ruling overturned the Commission's rejection due to a procedural error, allowing the Order to file a new application, which was subsequently approved.