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The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland has offered to meet the Orange Order and the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition to help resolve the dispute over the Drumcree parade. Meetings are taking place alongside ongoing discussions with Northern Secretary Chris Bryant, who has also met representatives from both groups. The police chief stressed that his priority is to keep people safe, police Drumcree impartially and support compliance with the Parades Commission's determination.
Northern Ireland’s Chief Constable has offered to meet with organisations at the centre of the Drumcree parade standoff, including the Orange Order and the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition, in an attempt to break the impasse over the controversial march.
In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, the Police Service of Northern Ireland said Jon Boutcher and Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson had “offered to conduct a series of meetings” with the groups on Wednesday “in the backdrop and support of the ongoing discussions” with the Northern Secretary, Chris Bryant. Calling on all involved to “focus our efforts on resolving this situation once and for all”, Boutcher said that in recent days the PSNI “has once again become the shock absorber of our society”.
He added that his officers “have and will continue to police Drumcree and our communities independently and impartially”.
“People shouting at me has absolutely no effect on my judgment and they would do well to learn that,” the Chief Constable said. “My overriding responsibility is to keep people safe. “We continue to seek to achieve compliance with the Parades Commission determination, obtained by the Orange Order, and have created the space for the ongoing talks at Hillsborough with the parties involved.
" A further meeting, lasting around two hours, took place on Wednesday between Bryant and the Orange Order at Hillsborough Castle, and on Wednesday lunchtime he was meeting representatives from the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition. Speaking to reporters following the latest round of talks with Chris Bryant at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down, on Wednesday, the Orange Order’s Portadown district master Nigel Dawson said Bryant had been left “in no doubt that our continued position is that he must, and the Chief Constable must, apply the law in relation to the positive determination issued by the Parades Commission and reinforced by the High Court”.
Asked on the way into the meeting what his message was for Bryant, Breandán Mac Cionnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition replied: “I think you know that. ” He has repeatedly stated his position is “reroute the sectarian parade”.
On Sunday, a limited march by 35 members of the Orange Order – which was given the go-ahead by the Parades Commission and subsequently by the High Court – was prevented from proceeding due to the presence of protesters on the Garvaghy Road. The order have made a number of attempts to parade down the road since then, but their way has been blocked by police Land Rovers, with protesters now maintaining watch along the sides of the road.
Now in its fourth day, the standoff at Drumcree appears no closer to being resolved and has led to angry exchanges between unionist and nationalist Assembly members at Stormont. Unionist Assembly members have called for the arrest and prosecution of Sinn F éin president Mary Lou McDonald and vice-president Michelle O’Neill , Northern Ireland’s First Minister, because of their presence at Sunday’s protest.
It has been deemed illegal by the PSNI because it was not notified to the Parades Commission, as is required in the North. On Wednesday, Traditional Unionist Voice MLA Timothy Gaston said he had tabled motions to exclude O’Neill and other Sinn Féin ministers from holding office for a period of 12 months, claiming they “no longer enjoy the confidence of the Assembly” after participating in the “unlawful” protest on Sunday.
In the PSNI statement on Wednesday, the Chief Constable said: “To be clear, the upholding of the Parades Commission determination does not come at any cost.
“The outstanding officers of the PSNI and our mutual aid colleagues will not allow society to implode into violent disorder and mob rule must not be allowed to win. “A large-scale criminal investigation is underway regarding unlawful protest on the Garvaghy Road. I have given a clear direction regarding prioritising the evidence-gathering and a criminal justice process.
" A legal challenge to the High Court decision which overturned an earlier injunction banning the parade is due to be heard at Belfast’s Court of Appeal on Friday.
Drumcree Parade Police Service Of Northern Ireland Orange Order Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition Chris Bryant
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