Thousands of protesters gathered in Portadown ahead of the Orange Order’s scheduled 8 a.m. Drumcree parade on Garvaghy Road. Northern Ireland’s High Court upheld the Parades Commission’s approval after an overnight hearing, allowing the march to proceed.
The Parades Commission reversed its long-standing position on Friday and permitted the march. On Saturday, Justice Patricia Smyth issued an injunction pausing the effect of the parade notification. An appeal by Portadown Orangeman Alan Hynes was upheld by the Court of Appeal, and the case returned to the High Court. Justice Michael Humphreys ruled after a hearing ending at 2:15 a.m. Sunday, saying the Commission had made a reasoned decision and the legal threshold for intervention was not met.
The parade had been barred from Garvaghy Road for decades amid opposition from residents in the mainly Catholic residential area; the dispute led to violent clashes in several summers during the 1990s. Residents’ counsel argued that the PSNI risk assessment presented to the Commission addressed past risks but not future ones. Hynes’s counsel said the Orange Order had made efforts to engage with the community.
