The Orange Order won permission for a 35-person Drumcree parade, down from 400, after a court challenge succeeded on procedural grounds. The route includes Garvaghy Road, where nationalist residents oppose it; the row is straining Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive.
Sinn Féin backs the residents, while the DUP supports the Orange Order; both parties are partners in Stormont’s devolved government. The parade dispute faded after violence in the mid-1990s but was never resolved. The Order says its march is a traditional walk dating to the early 1800s; it was barred from completing the route in 1998 and has been refused permission more than 1,000 times in three decades.
A judge urged the sides to find common ground during a last-minute legal battle, but no agreement was reached. The article says next year’s Stormont election could make parties more likely to dig in than compromise.
