British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Sunday called for calm in Northern Ireland after the High Court in Belfast gave the green light to the controversial parade in a late-night court hearing.
Thousands of protesters, many wearing balaclavas, gathered to prevent the Orange Order, a group strongly supporting Northern Ireland becoming part of the United Kingdom, from marching through the streets of Portadown, a town with many supporters of union with the Republic of Ireland.
Fireworks were set off nearby about five minutes before the 8 a.m. start time, and protesters were told over loudspeakers that they would be liable for arrest if they participated in an unauthorized counter-parade.
“We have made great progress in Northern Ireland and we don’t want to see things go backwards,” Burnham said, appealing for “calm on all sides” over the parade.
Sunday’s march will be the first time in almost 30 years that an Orange Order parade has been allowed to pass through Garbagy Road.
The road became a notorious flashpoint until the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which nearly ended the bloodshed that left 3,600 people dead, around 50,000 injured and thousands left bereaved. In the years before this agreement was signed, Garbagy Street was the scene of several violent clashes during the summer, requiring a large-scale security operation.
Ending the unrest meant balancing conflicting identities in Northern Ireland, which remained part of the United Kingdom when the rest of Ireland won independence a century ago. Irish nationalists in the north, most of them Catholic, want union with the Republic of Ireland, while many Protestant unionists want to remain part of the United Kingdom.
Mary Lou McDonald, leader of the Sinn Féin party, which has historical links to the Irish Republican Army, said the people of Garvagie Road “will not be dragged back into the past”.
“This is madness,” she said. “In fact, this is primitive treatment of any community in 2026. This is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
Gavin Robinson, leader of Northern Ireland’s largest pro-British party, the Democratic Unionist Party, accused Sinn Féin leaders of stirring up the situation.
“You cannot apply the rule of law only if Sinn Féin likes the outcome,” he said. “Our organization is founded on respect for police, courts and the rule of law.”
The march was given the final go-ahead at a court hearing that adjourned at 2:15 a.m. Sunday.
