Orange Order calls for 'urgent meetings' over Drumcree parade ban

The Orange Order is calling for urgent meetings after the Northern Ireland secretary banned the Drumcree parade.

Sir Chris Bryant said on Friday that he had listened to the arguments, but had not been able to accommodate both sides.

The parade - from Drumcree Church into Portadown, Co Armagh - was approved by the Parades Commission for 27 September.

It would have been the first time it had been down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in almost 30 years.

However, residents blocked the route late into the night.

The unionist Orange Order said today that Sir Chris's decision was a "capitulation to the threat of mob rule and violence", and accused Northern Ireland's chief constable of an "abdication of responsibility".

It said its members had "maintained a dignified and resolute stand in the face of intimidation and intolerance".

A statement added: "Urgent meetings with both the secretary of state and chief constable will be sought in the coming days where their decision making and actions in this matter will be robustly challenged."

Sir Chris said on Friday that talks between the two sides to find a compromise had failed.

He said he was acting "in the interests of wider public interest and safety" after the chief constable had asked him to review the decision of the Parades Commission.

"I heard the concerns of people on all sides, and I only regret that we could not reach a compromise on a way forward and that many residents across Portadown have felt anxious and worried," said Sir Chris.

"With this in mind, I call for all protests, rallies and demonstrations to be stood down. There is no excuse for a continued ratcheting up of tensions."

Nationalist parties Sinn Fein and the SDLP welcomed the move, as did Irish premier Micheal Martin, who said it would be a "considerable relief" to people on Garvaghy Road.

But Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson said he now needed to "explain what his Government intends to do to restore confidence in the rule of law".

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