Orange Order to march along Garvaghy Road for first time in nearly 30 years after controversial Drumcree ruling
The Parades Commission placed a number of restrictions on the procession, including an 8am start time and limiting the number of participants to 35 people.
The Orange Order’s Drumcree return parade is to be permitted to proceed along the Garvaghy Road for the first time in almost 30 years.
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The Parades Commission placed a number of restrictions on the procession, including an 8am start time and limiting the number of participants to 35 people.
That is a reduction from the application from the Portadown District of the Orange Order who proposed 60 Orange Order members take part in the procession on Sunday September 27.
The conditions also include that the parade must disperse from Carleton Street Orange Hall no later than 9.30am, and that only the Portadown District banner may be carried or displayed during the Garvaghy Road section.
No supporters are to accompany the parade or congregate along the parade route or in the vicinity of homes on the Dungannon Road and Drumcree Road, and no bands may participate.
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The determination was issued on Friday afternoon following extensive submissions around the route.
The residents of the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road strongly opposed the return parade going along the route.
The Orange Order and the DUP argued it was an opportunity to right an historic wrong.
It comes after a High Court ruling quashed the commission’s most recent determination over the march.
The body has blocked the order from marching along the Garvaghy Road in July every year since 1998.
The Drumcree parade dominated headlines in the 1990s when violent clashes and political tension necessitated a major security operation for several summers, as Garvaghy Road residents rejected the march passing through the community.
A number of people were killed during tensions in the 90s linked to the dispute.