Drumcree stand-off will be resolved, say police

A RESOLUTION to the Orange Order stand-off at Drumcree will be found at some stage, a Northern Ireland police chief claimed yesterday.

With security chiefs preparing to block any attempt by the Orangemen to march on the flashpoint Garvaghy Road, Portadown, in Co Armagh tomorrow, assistant chief constable Stephen White said: “How and when it will be sorted out, I don’t know, but I believe there will be an agreement.”

The Orangemen have been banned from the Garvaghy Road since 1997 because of objections of Catholics and nationalists.

But in a bid to end the blockade, the Orange leadership agreed for the first time to hold face-to-face talks with residents, to be chaired by Downing Street aide Jonathan Powell.

One proposal involved permission to march tomorrow, with any future parade requiring the consent of the residents.

No meetings have taken place and the Northern Ireland Parades Commission, which rules on contentious marches, has not been asked to review its decision this time.

The assistant chief constable, who leaves for Iraq’s second city, Basra, in a week to become a senior policing advisor to the interim government, will be in charge of security at Drumcree tomorrow.

He said yesterday: “The residents have been asking for face-to-face talks and for the principle of consent to be recognised. The Orangemen agree to that.

“I don’t know if the Orangemen will walk the Garvaghy Road again, but they feel strongly if they do all the right things, then their reward should be one walk. The residents feel it won’t happen unless there is something fairly dramatic,” he said.

Police are mounting a relatively low-key operation and though there were violent but brief clashes last year they are not expecting major disturbances.