Most protesters had left Portadown’s Garvaghy Road by early Monday after residents’ leader Breandán Mac Cionnaith said commitments meant the Orange Order parade would not use the route overnight. He was due to meet Northern Ireland officials Monday.
The parade had been banned since 1998. On Friday, the Parades Commission reversed its long-running ruling and permitted the Orange Order to march from Drumcree Church along Garvaghy Road, with a limit of 35 participants and an 8 a.m. start. The High Court upheld the decision early Sunday; the blockade delayed the start, and marchers waited at the church through the day.
Mac Cionnaith asked 20–30 volunteers to remain on the road to ensure the commitment was kept. The blockade was an unnotified gathering and illegal under Northern Ireland’s parading legislation; police warned protesters they could be arrested. First Minister Michelle O’Neill and other senior Sinn Féin figures were present, prompting unionist accusations of lawbreaking. Sunday-night talks among political leaders ended without a resolution.
