Sixty suspects identified by PSNI in investigation into Drumcree protests

Sixty suspects have been identified by police investigating protests against the Orange Order parade at Drumcree which sparked a two-week standoff between marchers and local residents. In an update to the investigation on Friday afternoon, Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck said 30 officers were “methodically working through over 70 hours of recorded material” and have “built evidential packages in respect of 60 identified suspects”.Eighteen of those suspects have been interviewed, he said, and “case files are now being prepared before being submitted to the Public Prosecution Service for prosecutorial decisions, in line with normal process”.Among those who have been interviewed by police are Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald and party vice-president and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill. READ MOREOn Friday, Sinn Féin councillors Catherine Nelson and Conor McKay were the latest members of the party to attend a Belfast police station for interview as part of the investigation.North Belfast MP John Finucane, Sinn Féin councillors Catherine Nelson and Conor McKay, and solicitor Pádraig Ó Muirigh at Musgrave police station in Belfast. Photograph: Rebecca Black/Press Association Speaking to reporters as she arrived, Nelson said she was “very proud to have stood with” the Garvaghy Road residents. Beck said the investigation was “likely to be long-running” and would continue over the coming weeks. 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 stand-off between the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road residents and their supporters. 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.[ From local row to peace-process shambles: How the Drumcree standoff developedOpens in new window ]The PSNI launched an investigation into the protests, which were not notified to the Parades Commission and were therefore deemed illegal. On Friday, the First and deputy First Ministers did not attend an economic event in Glasgow after the DUP announced Emma Little-Pengelly would no longer participate in joint engagements with O’Neill due to unionist anger over her involvement in the protests. The DUP MP Carla Lockhart resigned as a party officer last week after calling for the withdrawal of Little-Pengelly – which would automatically remove O’Neill as First Minister – and there is mounting speculation she is preparing to quit the party. The DUP has said it will implement a range of “sanctions” against Sinn Féin but has stopped short of removing Little-Pengelly as Deputy First Minister or triggering the collapse of the Stormont institutions. DUP leader Gavin Robinson told the BBC on Friday that he understood Lockhart’s position. He said “I don’t want to see her go” but “the fundamental position of the Democratic Unionist Party has already been decided”.DUP leader Gavin Robinson. Photograph: Liam McBurney/Press Association As part of those sanctions, the DUP will also refuse permission to O’Neill to fulfil engagements on her own in the role of First Minister. Under the powersharing rules governing Stormont, the posts of First and Deputy First Minister are a joint office, and one cannot be in post without the other. A separate meeting between O’Neill and Little-Pengelly with UK prime minister Andy Burnham, to discuss the continued failure to agree a budget at Stormont, did not take place. Speaking in Glasgow, Burnham said it was a “shame we do not have colleagues from Northern Ireland” but “we’re working with them on the same agenda” of growth. The DUP’s boycott will also prevent a meeting between O’Neill and Little-Pengelly and President Catherine Connolly at Áras an Uachtaráin, and means O’Neill will not be able to attend Remembrance Sunday commemorations at the Cenotaph in Belfast this weekend. – Additional reporting: PA