Police to send interview letters over Drumcree protest as Irish opposition urges UK intervention
Northern Irish police have contacted Sinn Féin members and a People Before Profit lawmaker over a Garvaghy Road protest that has blocked an Orange Order parade for almost two weeks.
Police move to interview letters
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said on Thursday that it is moving to the next phase of a large-scale criminal investigation into the Garvaghy Road protest, and individuals will receive letters about interviews. Police describe the protest as unlawful. The investigation concerns alleged breaches of a Parades Commission determination that allowed an Orange Order parade to complete its traditional route from Drumcree Church down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown for the first time in almost 30 years. That parade has not taken place because significant numbers of protesters have attended the Garvaghy Road. Assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck described the evidence work in these words:
This team have been methodically working through the evidence collected by police so far during the operation, building this material into evidential packages in respect of identified persons reasonably suspected of committing offences.
Chief Constable Jon Boutcher had earlier said there would be "consequences" for those found to have broken the law. Sinn Féin said a number of its representatives and party members had received correspondence from police, without naming them. People Before Profit lawmaker Gerry Carroll said he had received an invitation from police to attend a voluntary interview under caution.
- Protest gathers on Garvaghy Road to stop the Orange Order march after it was allowed to proceed
- Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition says the dispute is no longer just about the Garvaghy Road
- Police announce letters to individuals suspected of offences and opposition leaders write to Andy Burnham
Political fallout
The dispute has destabilised Northern Ireland's devolved government, a key plank of the 1998 peace deal, where Sinn Féin leads the power-sharing government alongside its main pro-British rival, the Democratic Unionist Party. The DUP has called for First Minister Michelle O'Neill and other lawmakers to be prosecuted. In a statement on Thursday, the party said:
A political title is not a shield, and no one is above the law.
O'Neill, who took part in the protest alongside Mary Lou McDonald, has defended her actions. She said:
When the law is wrong, I will stand firmly against it.
Unionists have proposed no-confidence motions in O'Neill, finance minister John O'Dowd, economy minister Caoimhe Archibald and infrastructure minister Liz Kimmins in the Assembly. The Irish Times reports that O'Neill is due to face a no-confidence motion in the Northern Ireland Assembly next week.
Opposition leaders ask London to act
On Thursday, Mary Lou McDonald, Ivana Bacik, Peadar Tóibín, Michael Collins and other TDs sent a joint letter to UK prime minister Andy Burnham urging him to intervene immediately. The letter asks him to "act swiftly" and to instruct the Northern Ireland secretary of state to use statutory powers to end the crisis. It says the Parades Commission determination "has caused profound distress and anxiety" within the Garvaghy Road community, and it calls "12 days of fear and uncertainty" unacceptable. The letter also notes that the Good Friday Agreement is approaching its 30th anniversary. Dundalk Municipal District councillors unanimously backed an emergency motion tabled by Sinn Féin councillor Antoin Watters, and similar motions have already passed in Drogheda Borough District and Ardee Municipal District. Watters said:
It has been 28 years since the Drumcree parade took place, and we recognise the complicated history, but the people there should be able to live safe in their own homes.
Court challenge and calls to contain the dispute
The Court of Appeal in Belfast heard a legal challenge to the Parades Commission decision earlier this week and reserved judgment. Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan said she hoped a ruling would be made in a "swift enough time frame". Assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck said he was satisfied that the police step would not affect the ongoing civil legal action over the march. UUP leader Jon Burrows has called on politicians to make a "collective appeal to contain" the parading dispute and to resolve it rather than multiply it. The Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition said on Wednesday, after meeting 11 other nationalist residents' groups, that the disagreement was "no longer just about the Garvaghy Road". The deadlock between residents and the local district lodge of the Orange Order over the proposed Portadown march has reached its twelfth day.
