Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill attend police interview over Drumcree protests

The Sinn Féin president and vice-president have attended a Belfast police station for interview in connection with an investigation into protests that blocked a controversial Orange Order march at Drumcree. Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill, who is the First Minister of Northern Ireland, were among a number of Sinn Féin politicians who received letters from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) asking them to attend interviews. The PSNI is investigating protests that blocked the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown, preventing the Orange Order march from taking place. The protests were not notified to the Parades Commission and were therefore “unnotified” and deemed illegal. READ MOREThe PSNI has sent letters to those “reasonably suspected” of having committed a criminal offence in relation to the dispute. They include other Sinn Féin Ministers, People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll and SDLP MLA Justin McNulty. In a statement on Wednesday, the SDLP confirmed McNulty “has received correspondence from the PSNI and will engage fully with any policing or judicial process.“The SDLP stands fully behind Justin’s decision to stand with Garvaghy Road community on 27 September,” it said. A decision by the Parades Commission to give the go-ahead for the Drumcree parade to take place on September 27th for the first time in 28 years sparked a two-week stand off between the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road residents and their supporters.[ Jamie Bryson: Northern Irish unionists ‘must go on the offensive’Opens in new window ]On October 9th, Northern Secretary Chris Bryant intervened to end the stalemate by banning the march following a request by PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher that he review the permission for the march to proceed.Speaking to the media outside Musgrave police station in central Belfast as they arrived on Wednesday afternoon, McDonald said they had committed to “co-operate with any processes arising from that decision that we took [to take part in the protest], and so we are here today to have an interview and to co-operate fully with the PSNI”.She defended her participation in the protest, saying “we stood on the Garvaghy Road to support that community at a time of great pressure and vulnerability, at a time when the peace and peace of mind of that community was under real threat, at a time when their right to live free from sectarian harassment was directly under threat”. “We stood with them shoulder to shoulder because that was the right thing to do, in fact, it was the only thing to do.”Asked if she would resign as First Minister if she were to be prosecuted, O’Neill responded that she was “going nowhere” and would “keep turning up for the people. “I am the First Minister and that is my job,” she said.[ PSNI feared gun use by dissident republicans if parade went down Garvaghy Road, court toldOpens in new window ]Earlier, a meeting of a Stormont committee ended amid heated exchanges after O’Neill left to attend the police interview. DUP MLA Deborah Erskine said O’Neill had treated the people of Northern Ireland with “absolute contempt” but Sinn Féin MLA Sinéad Ennis said the First Minister had made the committee aware of her time constraints and other commitments. Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said she was “more than happy to stay” to answer questions but the committee was advised that, given she shares a joint office with O’Neill, this would not be in line with protocol.