Orangemen banned from marching Garvaghy Road

PORTADOWN Orangemen have been banned from marching on the town’s flashpoint Garvaghy Road on Sunday.

A decision announced in Belfast yesterday by the Northern Ireland Parades Commission confirmed the Orangemen must stay away from the area following a church service at Drumcree.

The Commission took the decision following objections from nationalist residents and amid fears there could be violence.

There was trouble last year when some marchers clashed with police and troops who blocked their route. The Orangemen have been banned from the area for a number of years and, even though attempts have been continuing to reach some sort of compromise on the route, the Drumcree Orangemen were again told they would not be allowed on to the Garvaghy Road.

The Commission said yesterday there continued to be a strain on community relations in the area.

It added: "The Commission has cause to believe that should the parade process the entirety of its notified route, there will be an adverse effect on community relations and a potential for public disorder."

The Northern Ireland Parades Commission announced yesterday that the parade must not go down the mainly nationalist road after a church service. This is the sixth successive year that the parade has been barred from taking this route.

Garvaghy Residents' Association spokesman Breandan MacCionnaith has denied speculation that the annual stand-off is about to be resolved.

"The last process was under the chairmanship of Brian Currin, which finished in November 2001," Mr MacCionnaith said. "Since then, there has been no process to which we have been invited to attend, nor in which we have participated.

"If there are meetings going on, and certainly some of the media speculation indicates private meetings between the Orange Order and the government at this stage, the residents have been totally excluded."

The Orange Order argues that following the march route from Portadown to Drumcree Church and back, via the mainly Catholic Garvaghy Road is a celebration of their heritage.

But many Catholics regard it as provocative.

The Parades Commission was set up in 1997 to make decisions on whether controversial parades should be restricted.