By Anne Cadwallader
PORTADOWN, Co. Armagh — An uneasy calm has settled on the Garvaghy Road after Orangemen vowed to continue their protests, peacefully, on the hill at Drumcree, and said they hoped for an authorized march through the nationalist area within weeks.
Spokesman for the nationalist residents group, Brendan MacCionnaith, has called for immediate, face-to-face dialogue with the Orange Order to avoid a confrontation arising, either in the near future or next year.
He poured scorn on a pledge of non-violence from Orange district master, Harold Gracey, saying he had not walked away from the protest after the murders of the three Quinn children last year, RUC man Frank O’Reilly, Rosemary Nelson and Elizabeth O’Neill, or after the forcing of 21 Catholics from their homes.
Mac Cionnaith said Gracey’s comments rang hollow in this context, although others praised the Orangeman’s stand, including the British prime minister, the Church of Ireland primate, Dr. Robin Eames, and the chairman of the Parades Commission.
The Parades Commission has also rerouted another Orange parade, on the Lower Ormeau Road in Belfast, this one for the first time, prompting calls from the Order for its members to resign.
Sign up to The Irish Echo Newsletter
"They have no concept of civil liberties or justice," said the executive officer of the Orange Order, George Patton. "They are totally out of touch with the realities of the situation in Northern Ireland."
Gerard Rice of the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community says the decision has brought a sense of relief to the area and he also called for direct dialogue to prevent another conflict next year.
Both the Garvaghy Road residents and the Lower Ormeau group have written to the Order many times during the year — but as the Order does not recognize the Parades Commission and will not even discuss its right to march its traditional routes with residents, there have been no direct talks.
Gracey, Mac Cionnaith powwow
Speaking in Portadown on Sunday, Mac Cionnaith said he and Gracey would have to meet. Gracey has refused to speak to Mac Cionnaith and on Saturday said he would "never" change his mind.
Asked if he was fearful that an Orange parade might be forced down the Garvaghy Road in the near future, MacCionnaith said that nationalists across Ireland would not allow that to happen.
Following Sunday’s parade at Drumcree, Orangemen held a rally outside the Drumcree rectory. Gracey said that they would remain at Drumcree for as long as it takes, and appealed for no violence, saying he would walk away otherwise.
Earlier, the district officers had paraded to the barricade blocking their way to the Garvaghy Road and asked a senior RUC man to find out from the British prime minister and the secretary of state why they had been banned from marching.
About 1,500 Orangeman from County Armagh had earlier left Carlton Orange Hall in the center of Portadown on route to Drumcree. They were preceded by walkers in the Protestant "Long March," who were on the final leg of a 10-day journey from Derry.
There were cheers and applause from supporters who lined the streets in Portadown, but observers said there was a smaller turnout than usual. Many in Northern Ireland have left for summer vacations rather than face the civil disturbances of recent years.
There was a heavy security presence along the route as armored cars and RUC officers in riot gear lined the streets. The parade passed off peacefully and without incident.
On Sunday night, Drumcree was relatively peaceful, though at one stage more than 1,000 protesters were estimated to have been at the security barrier. Police said that the number had fallen to about 200 by midnight and later dwindled to about 30.
Portadown rally
During the protest a number of fireworks were thrown at police, but no one was injured. Earlier in Portadown, 600 people gathered in the town center for a rally at the end of Long March to defend what the organizers say are Protestant "civil rights," "real victims" and to protest at republican "ethnic cleansing."
The rally heard criticism of the proposed deal on devolution and decommissioning issued by the British and Irish governments.
Anti-Agreement DUP assembly member Paul Berry also accused nationalist leaders of exaggerating claims that the residents of the Garvaghy Road were discriminated against. Another member of the DUP, Willie McCrea, said Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein wasn’t fit to govern dogs, let alone a country.
Northern Ireland security minister Adam Ingram, on a visit to the Portadown area, expressed regret that heavy security force measures had to be undertaken to prevent trouble during this year’s march.
Ingram talked of the cost in human terms of previous Drumcree marching disputes. He noted that the three Quinn children killed in Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, last year, and RUC Constable Frank O’Reilly, who was killed in Portadown by a loyalist blast bomb, were just some of the victims of the conflict over the march.
Earlier, there was anger when a confidential document, written by a senior member of David Trimble’s staff, was leaked proposing stepped-up protests if the Drumcree parade were not allowed down the Garvaghy Road.
The document, headed "strictly confidential," was sent to Trimble and the British prime minister. It says that if the Orange Order does not get down the Garvaghy Road this year, the Portadown District of the Order should pull out of all engagements and discussions.
It also says there should be heightened protests in Portadown for the next two years, even extending to nightly marches and rallies.