O’NEILL AND MCDONALD ATTEND POLICE INTERVIEWS

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald attended police interviews in Belfast on Wednesday over protests on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown. Protesters blocked the road during a dispute over an Orange Order march at Drumcree. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) sent letters requesting interviews with politicians it said it reasonably suspected of committing an offence. Outside Musgrave Police Station, McDonald said she and O’Neill would “cooperate fully with any processes arising from the decision we took”.

The Parades Commission had approved the march for 27 September, the first such approval in 28 years. The protests were not notified to the commission, and the PSNI is investigating possible offences connected with them. A two-week stand-off followed between the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road residents and their supporters. Northern Secretary Chris Bryant banned the march on 9 October after PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher asked him to review the permission.

Other politicians who received PSNI letters include Sinn Féin ministers, People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll and SDLP MLA Justin McNulty. The SDLP said McNulty would engage fully with any policing or judicial process and backed his decision to join Garvaghy Road residents. Unionist parties have called for action against O’Neill and others, accusing nationalist parties of acting unlawfully. At a Stormont committee meeting earlier on Wednesday, Traditional Unionist Voice MLA Timothy Gaston argued that O’Neill’s involvement breached her pledge of office. O’Neill told the committee that no member was her “judge or jury” and said she would engage with the relevant processes.