About 2,000 demonstrators blocked an access road to the Catholic area of Portadown in Northern Ireland. A Protestant parade was scheduled to take this route on Sunday morning, a procession that has historically provoked sectarian violence.
On Friday, the Northern Ireland Parades Commission allowed Protestant group the Orange Order to march along Garvaghy Road, a Catholic enclave in predominantly Protestant Portadown, lifting a nearly 30-year ban on the route. This decision was challenged in the courts. It was not until 02:15 local time (01:15 GMT) on Sunday that the Northern Ireland High Court upheld it.
That same night, protesters gathered in the street, including Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill of the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein and party leader Mary Lou McDonald.
“This is crazy,” McDonald told reporters this morning. “In fact, this is a primitive attitude towards any community in 2026.” This is unacceptable and we will not tolerate it. This is a decent and united community and its members are absolutely determined that neither they nor we are dragged back into the past.”
MacDonald and O'Neill called on the British government and police to intervene to stop the parade. O'Neill said she had spoken with the British Minister for Northern Ireland and representatives of the Irish government.
Earlier, warnings were sounded from police vans parked nearby that anyone participating in the protest was committing a criminal offence.
A small group of Orange Order members, wearing traditional orange silk sashes and black bowlers, gathered in another part of the city. The photos were posted in X by Democratic Unionist Party MP Carla Lockhart.
A few minutes before the scheduled start of the parade, police informed those gathered that the route was blocked.
The Parades Commission's decision on Friday stipulated that the parade could have 35 people (fewer than usual), that it must start no later than 08:00 a.m. and end no later than 09:30 a.m., and that supporters and bands would not be allowed to participate.
Today's march largely takes place at two points in Portadown - Garvaghy Road and at Drumcree Church, one and a half kilometers to the west, where Orangemen and their supporters have gathered to await the start of the march.
One of the activists, Jamie Bryson, sharply criticized the “so-called First Minister for All” for “illegally blocking” the road. Bryson said that "Sinn Féin now faces serious questions about its commitment to the law."
Jonathan Buckley of the Democratic Unionist Party said "the court has made its decision" and "the law must prevail".
The Government of the Irish Republic issued a statement saying it had been monitoring the trial in Belfast overnight.
“The Government is closely monitoring the situation on the ground and will remain in contact with key participants in the negotiations, including residents of Garvaghy Road,” Dublin said in a statement. “Our main priority remains to prevent a return to the divisions of the past, given the significant progress made over many years to strengthen reconciliation under the Good Friday Agreement.”
In the UK government, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant interrupted his participation in the Labor Party's annual conference in Liverpool, saying he was taking the situation "very, very seriously". He called the protest that blocked the path of the Protestant parade illegal.
“It’s important that everyone follows the law,” he said. “I urge people to cooperate with the police. And by the way, this applies to people on both sides.”
At the same time, he stated that he would not personally intervene in the confrontation unless he was asked to do so by the Chief Constable of Northern Ireland, which, according to him, has not yet happened.
These two largest parties jointly govern Northern Ireland.
