UK bans Protestant march from Catholic area in Northern Ireland

DUBLIN — The United Kingdom government has reversed a decision to allow a parade by Protestant hard-liners through a Catholic district in Northern Ireland, a move that delighted Irish republicans and angered the region's British unionists. Portadown, a predominantly Protestant town, saw a standoff lasting nearly two weeks, after which Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant announced that the Orange Order would not be permitted to march through the town's main Catholic district for the first time in 28 years.

The Orange Order, a Protestant fraternal group often reviled by Catholics, had been barred from the route since 1998 due to years of violence stemming from annual sectarian showdowns. In response to the reversal, First Minister Michelle O’Neill, who has been criticized for aiding locals in blocking the Orangemen's intended path since September 27, expressed relief on Ireland's most-watched TV talk show, the Late Late Show.

O’Neill called for an end to ongoing tensions, emphasizing that the recent street fighting over these traditional marches contributed to the outbreak of Northern Ireland's 30-year conflict, known as "The Troubles," which resulted in nearly 3,700 deaths before a 1998 peace agreement. Nonetheless, the Democratic Unionists, the main pro-British party in the coalition government, denounced the decision, accusing the U.K. government of capitulating to mob rule.

Some DUP lawmakers even called for Northern Ireland's police chief, who advocated for the policy reversal, to be dismissed. The Democratic Unionist leader, Gavin Robinson, lamented that the U.K. government had sent a dangerous signal that Northern Ireland should be governed based on the force of numbers and who shouts the loudest, adding that the system governing conflicts over parades in Northern Ireland "now lies in tatters" and the rule of law has been fundamentally undermined.