Orange Order
 

*  Residents Groups
(I.R.A front)

Parades Commission
 

ALTHOUGH there have been reports of Nationalist sectarian conflict over parades in Portadown since the 1800's, the Drumcree issue only gained international prominence in 1995.

Members of the Orange Order in Portadown have traditionally walked home from their church service on the first Sunday in July via the Garvaghy Road. The Orangemen believe that 'the right to walk the Queens Highway' is a non-negotiable civil right.

But residents argue that the Orange Order must now give as much credence to change as they do to tradition and respect the views of the overwhelming nationalist population who want to deny Protestants, their basic civil rights.

The first confrontation came in 1995 when Orangemen leaving the church service at Drumcree found their way blocked by a sit-down protest from *residents groups on the Garvaghy Road and a dividing line of RUC officers.

Leading Portadown Orangeman, Harold Gracey told his members they would parade down the road even if it took "hours, days or weeks".
They stayed until Tuesday when, following an agreement reached through mediators, local Orangemen marched down the road without a band.
As the parade walked down the road, it was led for a section by DUP leader Ian Paisley and future UUP leader, Upper Bann MP David Trimble.
The image of the two men with hands clasped making their way along the road with broad smiles rankled with the residents who viewed it as a "triumphalist gesture" which broke the spirit of the agreement.

The following year, in 1996, the then RUC chief constable Hugh Annesley decided to re-route the parade.
Orange Order sympathisers crippled the province in response, blocking roads, ports and airports during four days of mayhem.

1997 saw the new Labour government in power, promising openness in government and more consultation.
Secretary of State Mo Mowlam promised Garvaghy Road residents she would inform them of the decision five days before what had now become known as Drumcree Sunday.
In the end RUC chief constable Ronnie Flanagan announced he had decided to force the march down the road "in the interests of public order".

Once more nationalist anger found an outlet in violence with widespread rioting across the province.
Police were attacked, buses and cars burned and millions of pounds of damage caused as Drumcree Mark III followed the precedent set by Drumcree I and II.

Last  year the decision on whether or not the parade should go ahead was made by the Parades Commission,  a non-elected, carefully chosen body with an IRA/Republican agenda!

It was generally expected that 2000 was the year that the Drumcree stalemate ended. But SFIRA still call the shots, so the ban remains!!!!

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The violence, sparked by the re-routing, was now mirrored by an outpouring of intense anger and pent up hatred from the Nationalist population towards the Protestants. The reaction had been carefully orchestrated to portray the Loyal Orange Order as the cause of the disturbances.