“Does anybody think this is a good idea? No right-minded person would make this decision,” said O’Neill, who expressed bewilderment over the Parades Commission’s U-turn. “Why, after 28 years of determinations to block a march down this road, did the Parades Commission think this is the right idea today to bring this mess back on to this community?”
But Northern Ireland’s main pro-British party, the Democratic Unionists, stood alongside the blocked Orangemen as they waited in hope that the police would enforce the commission’s ruling by pushing the Catholics out of the road. The last time this happened, in 1997, it triggered three nights of Irish republican rioting across Northern Ireland.
“It’s a big day for Portadown. Obviously we have had a seismic win within the courts. The law is on our side,” declared the Democratic Unionist MP representing Portadown, Carla Lockhart.
She singled out O’Neill for criticism, branding the first minister as a law-breaker leading a mob.
“What does it say when you have an absolute rabble, thousands chanting, and our self-proclaimed ‘first minister for all’ leading the chants and standing unlawfully?” Lockhart said.
“But these men will continue to stand here,” she said, gesturing to a few dozen Orangemen standing outside the Anglican church, many of them under umbrellas. “They’ve the law on their side. We’ll ensure that the parade is put lawfully down the road.”