Northern Ireland allows contentious Orange Order march through Catholic area

Authorities in Northern Ireland on Friday allowed what was once the ​most contentious Protestant parade of the annual marching season ​to pass through a Catholic area for the ‌first ​time since the route was banned in 1998. Northern Ireland's Parades Commission - set up to regulate marches during the province's sectarian conflict - permitted the Orange Order to march along the Garvaghy Road, ‌a Catholic enclave in the largely Protestant town of Portadown, during their annual Drumcree parade on Sunday.

It said it would impose conditions on the parade, including its size, timing and music, but not the route. The dispute over the route became one of the ‌defining flashpoints of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Annual attempts by the Protestant Orange Order to march through the area triggered unrest ‌across the British-run region before the route was banned in 1998, the same year the Good Friday Agreement largely ended the three decades of violence known as the "Troubles". The Commission's decision to restrict this year's parade was quashed by the High Court in August over a procedural error. The Orange Order, which lodged ⁠the court ​challenge, then re-applied to hold a ⁠scaled-back march on September 27.

Politicians from the main pro-British unionist parties backed calls for the Garvaghy Road route to be reinstated, arguing it formed part ⁠of the parade's traditional path and reflected their British heritage. Garvaghy Road residents appealed to the Commission during a series of meetings this week not ​to allow the parade to pass their homes and both they and Irish nationalist politicians have said the dispute was ⁠settled almost three decades ago.

The original ban in 1998 required a large security operation. Hundreds of British troops criss-crossed fields with thousands of metres of razor ⁠wire ​and dug a long ditch that was later partially filled with water to act as a moat to keep the Protestant marchers away from the Catholic enclave. A standoff that year sparked nightly clashes between loyalists and police. The violence only ⁠ended when three young boys were killed in a firebomb attack on a Catholic home.

The Drumcree parade, during which marchers wear ⁠traditional silk orange sashes, black bowler ⁠hats and carry British flags, has passed off peacefully since the early 2000s with the ban remaining in place. The Orange Order has said 60 members will walk along the Garvaghy Road unaccompanied ‌by a marching ‌band, rather than its usual larger group.