Drumcree conflict

. Similar arches are erected in Portadown each summer, including one at the end of the mainly nationalist and Catholic Garvaghy Road. Portadown has long been mainly Protestant and unionist. At the height of the conflict in the 1990s, about 70% of the population were from a Protestant background and 30% from a Catholic background. The town's Catholics and Irish nationalists, as in the rest of Northern Ireland, had long suffered discrimination, especially in employment. Throughout the 20th century, the police—Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)—was also almost wholly Protestant. A loyalist arch is raised over the Garvaghy Road at the Corcrain River, Its first ever marches were held on 12 July 1796 in Portadown, Lurgan and Waringstown. The area is thus seen as the birthplace of Orangeism. In July 1795, the year the Order formed, a Reverend Devine had held a Battle of the Boyne commemoration sermon at Drumcree Church. Each July, the Orangemen have marched from the town centre to Drumcree via Obins Street/Dungannon Road and returned along Garvaghy Road. After partition After the partition of Ireland in 1921, the Northern Ireland Government's policy tended to favour Protestant and unionist parades. From 1922 to 1950, almost 100 parades and meetings were banned under the Special Powers Act – nearly all were Irish nationalist or republican. Although violence died down during this period, there were clashes at the 1931 and 1950 Drumcree parades. In the 1960s, housing estates were built along Garvaghy Road. ==1970s and 1980s: Obins Street==

1972 In March 1972, thousands of loyalists attended an Ulster Vanguard rally in the town, which was addressed by Martin Smyth (Grand Master of the Orange Order) and the mayor of Portadown. After the rally, loyalists attacked the Catholic neighbourhood around Obins Street, known as "The Tunnel". Following this, Catholic residents formed a protest group named the "Portadown Resistance Council", which called for the upcoming marches to be re-routed away from Obins Street (see map). The Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a then-legal loyalist vigilante and paramilitary group, warned of consequences if anything was done to stop the march. The day before the march, Catholics sealed off Obins Street with makeshift barricades. On the morning of the march, Sunday 9 July, British troops and riot police moved in to secure the area. When they bulldozed the barricades they were stoned by Catholic protesters and responded by firing CS gas and rubber bullets. The UDA men then made their way to Drumcree and escorted the Orangemen back into town along Garvaghy Road. Hours later, a UDA member (and former police officer) entered McCabe's Bar and shot the Catholic pub-owner, Jack McCabe, and a Protestant customer, William Cochrane. That day, under tight security, the Orangemen again marched along Obins Street, this time from Corcrain Orange Hall to the town centre. Later in the month, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated a bomb on Woodhouse Street, and loyalists bombed a Catholic church. The IRA warned that the UDA would not be allowed to repeat such actions. However, a small part of the two-mile route (about 150 yards of Park Road) was lined with Protestant-owned houses. When the police let it go ahead, Hatch and a small group of loyalists staged a sit-down protest on Park Road. It organized peaceful protests, issued newsletters and held talks with police. It also tried, unsuccessfully, to hold talks with the Orangemen. Police again decided that the Drumcree Sunday parade would be allowed along Obins Street with some restrictions, but that the 12 and 13 July parades would be re-routed. On 6 July 1985, an estimated 4,000 soldiers and police were deployed in the town for the Drumcree parade. Among them was George Seawright, a unionist politician and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) member who had proposed burning Catholics in ovens. This meant that, after 1986, Orange marches were effectively banned from Obins Street indefinitely. The July 1987 march was re-routed, and 3,000 soldiers and 1,000 police were sent to keep order. Orangemen believed that sacrificing the Obins Street leg meant they would be guaranteed the Garvaghy Road leg. Although the Garvaghy Road leg had caused trouble before, it was less populated than Obins Street at the time. In June 1988, the Drumcree Faith & Justice Group (DFJG)—the group representing the Catholic/Irish nationalist residents—planned a march to the town centre to highlight what it saw as "double-standards" in the police's handling of nationalist and loyalist parades. It asked permission from police, saying there would be only 30 marchers and they would carry no flags or banners. They were denied permission. ==1990s and 2000s: Garvaghy Road==

Although a few years passed without serious conflict over the Drumcree parades, both sides remained unhappy with the situation. Orangemen took the new route each year, but continued to apply for marches along Obins Street. Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition In May 1995, the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition (GRRC) was formed, comprising representatives from the DFJG and the tenants' associations. Its main goal was to divert Orange marches away from Garvaghy Road through peaceful means. It held peaceful protests, petitioned the police and government ministers, and tried to draw media attention to the dispute. David Trimble, then the local Unionist MP, cited McKenna's presence as reason for refusing to have dealings with the GRRC. 1995 On Sunday 9 July 1995, the Orangemen marched to Drumcree Church, held their church service, and then began marching towards the Garvaghy Road. However, hundreds of Catholic residents were holding a sit-down protest on Garvaghy Road to block the march. Although the march was legal and the protest was not, police stopped the march from continuing. The Orangemen refused to take another route, announcing they would stay at Drumcree until they were allowed to continue. The Orangemen refused to negotiate with the residents' group, and the Mediation Network was called upon to intercede. During this standoff, loyalists continuously threw missiles at police and tried to break through the police blockade; officers responded by firing 24 plastic bullets. The Orangemen marched along the road with Paisley and Trimble at the head of the march. As they reached the end of Garvaghy Road, Paisley and Trimble held their hands in the air in what appeared to be a gesture of triumph. Both sides were deeply unhappy with the events of July 1995. Residents were angered that the parade had gone ahead and at what they saw as unionist triumphalism, while Orangemen and their supporters were angered that their parade had been held up by an illegal protest. Some Orangemen formed a group called Spirit of Drumcree (SoD) to defend their "right to march". At a SoD meeting in Belfast's Ulster Hall one of the platform speakers said, to applause: Sectarian means you belong to a particular sect or organisation. I belong to the Orange Institution. Bigot means you look after the people you belong to. That's what I'm doing. I'm a sectarian bigot and proud of it. 1996 On Saturday 6 July 1996, the Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Annesley, stated that the parade would be banned from Garvaghy Road. The RUC had acknowledged this could result in "a very high number of Orangemen laying siege to Portadown". Police checkpoints and barricades were set up on all routes into the Catholic area. On Sunday 7 July, the march was blocked by police barricades at Drumcree. At least 4,000 Orangemen and loyalist supporters began another standoff. That afternoon, Orange Grand Master Martin Smyth arrived at Drumcree and announced there could be no compromise. Over the next three days, buses full of Orangemen and their supporters arrived in Portadown, bringing traffic to a standstill. By Wednesday night, the number of Orangemen and loyalists at Drumcree had risen to 10,000. Human Rights Watch said that police failed to remove these illegal roadblocks and had "abandoned its traditional policing function in some areas". Loyalists also attacked the homes of police officers, mainly of those on duty at Drumcree. Thousands of extra British troops were sent to Northern Ireland, bringing the total number of troops deployed to 18,500. It is believed the killing was ordered by the brigade's leader, Billy Wright, from Portadown. Wright also held a meeting with David Trimble, leader of the UUP. On Wednesday 10 July, police reported that, over the previous four days of loyalist protests, there had been: • 758 attacks on police, leaving 50 police injured • 662 plastic bullets fired by police • 90 civilians injured • 100 incidents of intimidation • 156 arrests made The rioting was some of the worst in Derry during the Troubles. Rioting continued throughout the week, during which time the police fired 6,000 plastic bullets, 5,000 of which were directed at nationalists. Along with most of his Portadown unit, Wright then formed a splinter group called the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). Following the events of July 1996, many Catholics and nationalists began boycotting businesses run by Orangemen who had been involved in the standoff. Commenting on the 1996 crisis, a Northern Ireland Office official said constraints on parades aroused an "atavistic response from the unionist community", which recognised it had "lost dominance" in Northern Ireland; and the Ulster Unionist Party threatened to withdraw from the Northern Ireland peace process. The following day, sixty families were evacuated from their homes on Garvaghy Road after a loyalist bomb threat. In the days leading up to the march, thousands of British troops were flown to Northern Ireland. They were forcefully removed by police, who were then pelted with stones and petrol bombs as they pushed residents further back from the road. After July 1997, GRRC member Breandán Mac Cionnaith replaced Eamon Stack as the group's spokesman. Mac Cionnaith had spent time in prison in the 1980s for an IRA bomb attack on Portadown's Royal British Legion hall. 1998 Early in 1998, the Public Processions Act was passed, establishing a Parades Commission to make decisions on contentious marches. The Parades Commission decided to ban the march from Garvaghy Road. On Friday 3 July, about 1,000 soldiers and 1,000 police were deployed in Portadown. which was then lined with rows of barbed wire. On Sunday 5 July, the Orangemen marched to Drumcree Church and stated they would remain there until they were allowed to proceed. A loyalist group calling itself "Portadown Action Command" issued a statement which read:As from midnight on Friday 10 July 1998, any driver of any vehicle supplying any goods of any kind to the Gavaghy Road will be summarily executed. However he later apologized for implying that the Order was responsible for the deaths. Ian Paisley claimed that the petrol bombing of the Quinn home was unrelated to the Drumcree dispute: The murders provoked widespread anger and calls for the Order to end its protest at Drumcree. Although the number of protesters at Drumcree dropped considerably, the Portadown lodges voted unanimously to continue their standoff. Throughout the year the Orangemen and supporters held scores of protest rallies and marches in Portadown. Following one protest in September 1998, a Catholic RUC officer was killed by a blast bomb thrown by loyalist rioters. A renegade loyalist group, the Orange Volunteers, also began carrying out gun and bomb attacks on Catholics and Irish nationalists. On 14 March 1999, the Parades Commission said the yearly march would again be banned from Garvaghy Road. The following day, the GRRC's legal advisor, Rosemary Nelson, was assassinated in Lurgan by loyalists who had attached a bomb to her car. In April, Portadown loyalists threatened to picket St John's Catholic Church at the top of Garvaghy Road. On 29 May, a junior Orange march passed near Garvaghy Road. There were clashes following the march with 13 police officers and four civilians hurt. Police fired 50 plastic bullets during the clashes. On 24 June, Orangemen began a ten-day "Long March" from Derry to Drumcree in protest at the ban. but was shot and wounded while doing so. The loyalist was arrested and later convicted for attempted murder. In August, breeze blocks were thrown through the windows of houses on the street. Also that year, the GRRC published a book detailing the history of Orange parades in the area. The book was called Garvaghy: A Community Under Siege. After 1999, the Orange Order's membership for the Portadown district, which had risen from 1995 to 1998, began a "catastrophic slump". 2000 ;April–June In April 2000, a newspaper reported that Portadown Orangemen had threatened British Prime Minister Tony Blair, saying that if that year's march was banned from Garvaghy Road it would prove to be his "Bloody Sunday". The following month, almost 200 masked loyalists attacked Catholic homes on Craigwell Avenue after assembling at Carlton Street Orange Hall. Allegedly, police Land Rovers were nearby but did not intervene. On 27 May, the Catholic area was sealed-off by police so that a junior Orange parade could march along the lower end of Garvaghy Road. The march included men in paramilitary uniform. It would not be fully restored until at least 2002. On 16 June, Catholic workers at Denny's factory in Portadown walked-out after placards carrying sectarian slogans were erected near the main entrance. The week before, loyalists had thrown missiles at Catholics leaving the factory. The placards were removed shortly after. That month, Portadown Orangeman Ivan Hewitt, who sported neo-Nazi tattoos, warned in a TV documentary that it may be time for loyalists to "bring their war to Britain". The 2000 Drumcree march took place on Sunday 2 July. It was again banned from Garvaghy Road, and the Catholic area was sealed off with barricades. Thousands of loyalists again gathered at Drumcree. Orange "District Master" Harold Gracey called for protests across Northern Ireland. A prominent leader of the protesters, Mark Harbinson, a Stoneyford Orangeman who was associated with the paramilitary Orange Volunteers, proclaimed that "the war begins today". • 330 attacks on security forces (including thirteen shootings) in which 88 RUC officers and soldiers were injured • 313 petrol bombings • 99 cases of criminal damage to homes and 86 cases of criminal damage to other buildings • 417 cases of criminal damage to vehicles • 105 hijackings 2001 onward Since July 1998, the Orangemen have applied to march the traditional route every Sunday of the year – both the outward leg along Obins Street (which has been banned since 1986) and the return leg along Garvaghy Road. They also held a small protest at Drumcree Church every Sunday. Their proposals have been rejected by the Parades Commission. In February 2001, loyalists held protests on the lower Garvaghy Road in the run-up to "day 1000" of their standoff. The GRRC said that up to 300 people, some masked and armed with clubs, intimidated people living on Garvaghy Road, and attacked a car with passengers inside. There was further violence in May 2001. On 5 May, 300 Orangemen and supporters tried to march on to Garvaghy Road but were stopped by police. There were some scuffles between Orangemen and police. District Master Harold Gracey drew controversy when he said to police officers: "We all know where you come from ... the vast majority of you come from the Protestant community and it is high time that you supported your own Protestant people". On 12 May there were clashes between loyalists and nationalists on Woodhouse Street. On 27 May there were clashes between nationalists and police after a junior Orange march on the lower Garvaghy Road. The march passed off peacefully under a heavy security presence. Since 2001, Drumcree has been relatively calm, with outside support fading for the Portadown lodges' campaign and violence waning. Mac Cionnaith said he believes the conflict is essentially over. The Orange Order continues to campaign for the right to march on Garvaghy Road. In late July 2024, Portadown Orange District LOL 1 submitted an application to march down the Garvaghy Road during the 2024 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, in which Armagh were to compete, stating that the parade would "bring the least impact on the majority of the community that live there, as most will either be away to Croke Park, or in clubs, pubs, or at home" (sic.). The application was denied by the Parades Commission. ==See also==