POLICE BLOCK ORANGE ORDER PARADE ATTEMPT AT DRUMCREE

Police stopped a group of Orange Order members marching from Drumcree Church along the Garvaghy Road in Portadown in the early hours of Monday, according to BBC News NI. A line of police Land Rovers blocked the route as the men attempted the march, the broadcaster reported. The group had already been prevented from completing a permitted parade on Sunday morning after protesters gathered on the Garvaghy Road. The stand-off continued through Sunday, with the Orangemen waiting at Drumcree Church, around a mile from the road, for police to allow them through. Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O'Neill joined the protesters, prompting Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson to accuse her of acting unlawfully. According to the Belfast Telegraph, Robinson said O'Neill was "prepared to give a two finger salute to the rule of law."

The Drumcree parade had been due to complete its route for the first time in 30 years following a series of legal challenges, BBC News NI reported. The Orange Order, a Protestant pro-British organisation, has sought to march along the Garvaghy Road, an area that is largely Catholic and predominantly inhabited by pro-Irish nationalists. Since 1998 the Orange Order has been prevented from finishing the Drumcree march, with the Parades Commission repeatedly refusing permission until this year. Nigel Dawson, the Orange Order's Portadown district master, said marchers were frustrated, adding that they had a legal right to parade down the Garvaghy Road and that police should facilitate the route. He said the organisation had been "open and honest" and had sought mediation to reach a resolution acceptable to both sides. DUP MP Carla Lockhart, who returned to Drumcree in the early hours of Monday, said the Police Service of Northern Ireland's chief constable needed "to take a grip of this very quickly or his position will become untenable."

Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant called for "compromise" over the dispute, BBC News NI reported. Breandán Mac Cionnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition said he was due to meet the secretary of state and the chief constable on Monday, adding that he would not prejudge those discussions. In the 1990s, the Drumcree dispute was linked to some of the most serious disorder in Northern Ireland's history, according to the broadcaster. No date has been given for any further attempt by the Orange Order to complete the route. The outcome of Monday's planned meetings between the residents' group, the secretary of state and the chief constable had not been reported.