Orange Order's emergency challenge to Drumcree parade ban adjourned to Monday

Mixed · 2An emergency sitting of the High Court in Belfast on Saturday adjourned until Monday a challenge by the Orange Order to Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant's decision to halt a parade in Co Armagh. 1 2 Centre · 1Lady Justice Denise McBride said she appreciated it is an important case and believes it has urgency, but that it was "not an emergency". She noted that significant material was outstanding and urged the parties to keep working across the weekend. 1 Mixed · 2Sir Chris announced the ban on Friday night, saying it was not in the public interest for the procession to go ahead, after a stand-off of almost two weeks between the Orange Order and nationalist residents of the Garvaghy Road in Portadown. 1 2

Centre · 1The Parades Commission had ruled two weeks earlier that the march from Drumcree Church into Portadown could pass along the road with restrictions, but it did not happen because of a large protest on the route. On Friday, PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher asked the Secretary of State to review that determination. 1 Centre · 1Sir Chris said he had not taken the decision lightly, regretted that no compromise was reached, and called for protests to be stood down. He told the BBC two options had been discussed: one final march on condition the Order would not apply to march the route again, or the Order accepting it had won the right to march but agreeing not to exercise it. He said he believed an agreement had been close. 1 Centre · 1The Orange Order expressed "profound disappointment", accusing the Secretary of State of overruling the legal rights of Portadown District Orange Lodge No 1 and describing the decision as a "capitulation to the threat of mob rule and violence". It said it would seek urgent meetings with Sir Chris and the Chief Constable. 1

Centre · 1Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson said the court had accepted the matter's urgency and that, if the decision were quashed, the Parades Commission determination would come back to life and Portadown District would be ready to walk the Garvaghy Road. 1 Centre · 1Garvaghy Road residents cheered the ban at Drumcree Community Centre on Friday night. Sinn Féin and the SDLP welcomed it, Irish Premier Micheál Martin called it a "significant relief", and DUP leader Gavin Robinson said Sir Chris must explain how the Government would restore confidence in the rule of law. 1 Centre · 1The Court of Appeal is also due to rule on a separate challenge by Garvaghy Road residents against the Parades Commission's decision to allow an Orange parade along the road for the first time in almost 30 years. 1