Northern Ireland's High Court reverses ban on Protestant Orange Order march through Catholic area

The High Court dismissed a new application to stop the Orange Order from going through the area of Portadown after the Court of Appeal vacated a temporary injunction granted on Saturday.Follow us on GoogleLoyalist activist Jamie Bryson is flanked by Police Officers outside the Belfast High Court where Judge Patricia Smyth issued a temporary injunction stopping an Orange Order march planned to be held in Portadown, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, September 26, 2026. (photo credit: REUTERS/CATHAL MCNAUGHTON)SEPTEMBER 27, 2026 07:54A Protestant parade may proceed through a Catholic area, Northern Ireland's High Court ruled early on Sunday, reversing a temporary ban on the highly charged march in an area that has historically been a flashpoint of sectarian disputes.The High Court dismissed a new application to stop the Orange Order from going through the area of Portadown after the Court of Appeal vacated a temporary injunction granted on Saturday to residents who opposed the parade.Residents of the Garvaghy Road area had challenged Friday's ruling by Northern Ireland's Parades Commission that permitted the Orange Order to march along their road, a Catholic enclave in the largely Protestant town, overturning an almost 30-year ban on the route.A crowd gathered on the Garvaghy Road early on Sunday morning to protest against the ruling allowing the march. In the crowd were Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill, who is also ⁠vice president of the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party, and her party's leader, Mary Lou McDonald, video posted on social media showed."Although the forces of darkness may want to stop us creating a new united Ireland, they will fail," McDonald told a crowd of protesters in the clip, posted on X/Twitter.A road sign beside Drumcree Parish Church displays stickers opposing an Orange Order March, following the Parades Commissions ruling that the march can go ahead, in Portadown, Northern Ireland, September 25, 2026. (credit: REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton/File Photo)Carla Lockhart, a member of parliament from the Democratic Unionist Party, told reporters outside the court that it was up to Sinn Fein and other nationalist politicians to abide by the rule of law and allow the parade to pass through.Annual Protestant march triggers unrest across Northern IrelandThe original 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 year the Good Friday Agreement largely ended the three decades of violence known as the "Troubles."The Parades Commission's determination on Friday stipulated that a smaller-than-usual 35 people could take part in the march, that it should begin by 8 a.m. and finish by 9:30 a.m., and that no supporters or bands would be allowed.The commission had initially maintained its ban, but the High Court quashed that decision in August over a procedural error.Follow us on Google