Judgment expected on challenge to Drumcree Orange Order parade ban

A judgment is expected to be handed down following a legal challenge to the decision by the Northern Ireland Secretary of State to ban the Drumcree Orange Order parade in Portadown.

The Parades Commission granted permission earlier this year for the parade to complete its traditional route down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road for the first time in almost 30 years.

The move sparked large crowds to gather on the road in opposition to the parade returning to the former flashpoint that sparked serious disorder and violence in the 1990s.

Police assessed that officers were unable to safely escort the parade along the Garvaghy Road while the crowds remained.

Orange men stayed on Drumcree Hill and made a number of attempts to complete the parade by approaching the police line and making their case for almost two weeks.

The Northern Ireland Secretary, Chris Bryant, banned the parade on October 9th after hosting talks with the two sides and being unable to find an agreed resolution.

In the latest in a series of legal challenges connected to the dispute, a judicial review was sought by a member of the institution in to the intervention by Bryant, as well as the role of PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher.

Last week, Belfast High Court heard a challenge to the “legality of the decision-making route” to ban the parade.

[ More than 50% of people in NI back move to ban Orange Order parade at DrumcreeOpens in new window ]

However, counsel for Bryant countered he could have taken “no other decision” than to halt the Drumcree march.

The court also heard PSNI intelligence that dissident republicans may have mounted gun attacks on the police had officers cleared a path for the parade. – PA

[ ‘Catholics seem to see the Orangeman as the bogeyman. They have this visceral hatred’Opens in new window ]