A loyalist parade planned to go down a nationalist street in a Northern Ireland town was blocked by protesters on Sunday, prompting calls for calm from officials on all sides, including UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Around 2,000 people, including Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, packed Portadown's Garvaghy Road to stop an Orange Order march from entering the Catholic enclave, Reuters reports. The crowd arrived after an overnight court decision by the High Court in Belfast to allow the parade.
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The Parades Commission had recently lifted a nearly 30-year ban on the route, allowing a reduced group of 35 marchers a 90-minute window to pass through. After losing in court, residents turned out in the rain to block the procession. Police in riot gear kept their distance as they warned protesters they were breaking the law; the march itself never began, with Orange Order members waiting elsewhere in town. "Be big enough to step back from the abyss," Justice Patricia Smyth had urged both sides in court, per the Guardian.
Many in Portadown favor unification with the Republic of Ireland, per the AP. McDonald called the decision to allow the parade "madness," while Irish Premier Micheal Martin labeled the ruling "incomprehensible." Burnham urged restraint, saying recent gains must not "go backwards." Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson, meanwhile, condemned ministers' presence at what he called an unlawful protest, accusing them of defying "the police, the courts and the rule of law."
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