Breandán Mac Cionnaith, from the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition, said he has received ‘commitments’ that the Drumcree parade will not take place tonight
Senior leaders are set to meet on Monday morning for talks on the Drumcree parade, with protesters told they had secured a ‘victory’ after a stand-off in Portadown.
Breandán Mac Cionnaith, from the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition, has told protesters he will meet Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant and Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Jon Boutcher on Monday morning, September 28 for talks on the Drumcree parade.
He said the community had secured a “victory” as he said he had received “commitments” that the parade would not be proceeding down the Garvaghy Road overnight.
Mr Mac Cionnaith asked for 20 to 30 volunteers to remain on the road to ensure those commitments were not broken. The rest of the protesters have now dispersed with traffic flowing once again.
“I still have a job for some of you,” he said. “We’ll need some people out on the street tonight, because although we’ve got commitments about nobody coming down this road tonight, we’ve seen those commitments broke in the past.”
On his planned meetings on Monday, he said: “That process starts tomorrow when we go in and meet the chief constable and we’ll meet the secretary of state.
“We’re not going in to do deals with them, or to take half measures with them.
“We said the other day, and we said yesterday, and the day before – we’re not going back, we’re not turning the clock back. We’re putting the clock forward.”
On Sunday evening, the Portadown District Lodge left Drumcree Church before being stopped by police and returning to the church hall. The Orange Order parade was set to go ahead at 8am on Sunday morning after an “unprecedented” late-night sitting of the High Court in Belfast just a few hours earlier.
The Drumcree parade, which was associated with violent clashes during the Troubles, has been banned since 1998.
Stormont First Minister and Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill said the Garvaghy Road community had won a “victory”.
“This community do not want this, they do not want this march,” she told reporters before leaving the area shortly after midnight on Monday morning.
“And tonight, I believe, is another victory for this community in standing steadfast for the right to live free from sectarian harassment and intimidation.”
Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Jon Boutcher appealed to “those with influence to encourage people to comply with the law” as he his officers would detect any offences throughout the day.
He added: “It is incumbent on us all to come together at times like this to do all we can to preserve a peaceful Northern Ireland.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has appealed for “calm on all sides” over the Orange Order parade, saying there have been “big gains made in Northern Ireland, and we don’t want to see things go backwards”.
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