Politicians call for resolution to Drumcree dispute

Politicians have cautioned against escalating the parading dispute in Drumcree, after a warning from residents that it could lead to issues with other marches.

It's the twelfth day of deadlock between residents of the Garvaghy Road and the local district lodge of the Orange Order over the proposed march in Portadown, County Antrim.

On Wednesday, the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition (GRRC) said the disagreement was "no longer just about the Garvaghy Road" after meeting 11 other nationalist residents' groups.

Several politicians have said they do not want the dispute to spark other disagreements about parades in other locations.

Claire Hanna, the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme there was a need to "get a grip" of the situation "before it engulfs the wider political system".

She called on the Secretary of State, Sir Chris Bryant, to withdraw permission for the parade but said that "sensible voices within unionism" should "ask the lodge to reconsider, because there is the potential for this to scale out into other areas".

Jon Burrows, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) said he thought it would be a "mistake" for the secretary of state to get involved, but said politicians should make a "collective appeal to contain" the dispute in Drumcree.

"What we need to hear is political leaders saying we must not open these disputes across the country."

The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) has said the secretary of state is continuing to engage with all parties for a resolution.

Burrows also said it would be "easier" to resolve the situation if the police were to bring "consequences at the door of those who have broken the law, from the first minister down".

Michelle O'Neill has defended joining the unlawful protests on the Garvaghy Road, saying she was "proud to stand with the residents" and adding that "when the law is wrong, I will stand firmly against it".

The PSNI has said a criminal inquiry into the demonstrations is ongoing.

Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard said there had been warnings that "opening up Drumcree" could "unravel agreements everywhere else".

"Nobody, not the Garvaghy Road, not Belfast, not Derry, nobody wants to go back to those days.

"Accommodating sensitive parades relies entirely on mutual respect. We have to see an injection here of mutual respect."

Jonathan Buckley, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MLA for Upper Bann, said he wanted to see "mediated outcomes where residents can live and accommodate one another".

"I want to de-escalate. I want to see accommodation, and I want to see this issue resolved."

After the meeting of residents' groups on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the GRRC, Linda O'Neill, said: "The Orange Order needs to take responsibility, and so do the Parades Commission for making this issue bigger than the Garvaghy Road; this is no longer just about the Garvaghy Road, this is about all of us."

She said support from all over Ireland was "propping up our community right now; we have never seen support and solidarity like it".

The Portadown District Lodge have said they are prepared to take further legal action to try to allow the 35 Orangemen to march from Drumcree along the route approved by the Parades Commission.

At a separate press conference on Wednesday, Portadown District Master Nigel Dawson said the lodge would "not be bullied or threatened by any residents' group who step outside the law".

He said he was "very confident" in the support across Northern Ireland for their march adding "there's no threat to our parades. They're legal".

It is more than a week since the decision to allow an Orange Order march down the Garvaghy Road on Sunday, 27 September.

That morning, up to 1,000 people - including politicians such as Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill - blocked the road, preventing Orangemen marching from Drumcree Church a mile to the west.

Since then, residents have maintained a constant presence around the road while Orangemen have also repeatedly tried to march the route before being turned back by police.

The stand-off has caused considerable political fallout in Northern Ireland, with First Minister O'Neill facing a vote of no confidence over her involvement in the protest.

The vote is due to fail due to it requiring cross-community support at the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Police are investigating the demonstrations in a "large-scale" criminal inquiry.

Drumcree was one of Northern Ireland's most serious parading disputes, when stand-offs in the mid-to-late 1990s over attempts by the Orange Order to march along the Garvaghy Road were accompanied by riots, roadblocks and killings.

When the Orange Order was prevented by police from walking down the route in July 1995, there was a tense stand-off. It was the same for the next three years.

The Parades Commission began operating in 1998 to regulate parades and try to defuse tension around marches.

Its decision not to allow a march down the Garvaghy Road that summer has been challenged by the order for the past three decades.

Earlier this year the Parades Commission decided that the march could go ahead with restrictions in place after its original decision to stop the march was overturned in court.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal is considering its ruling in a legal challenge brought by the residents to block the march going ahead.