Judgment expected on challenge to Bryant’s Drumcree parade ban

A judgment is expected to be handed down later following a legal challenge to the decision by Secretary of State Sir Chris Bryant to ban the Drumcree Orange Order parade in Portadown. The Parades Commission earlier this year gave a green light to the parade completing its traditional route down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road for the first time in almost 30 years. The move sparked large crowds to gather on the road in opposition to the parade returning to the former flashpoint that sparked serious disorder and violence in the 1990s.

Police assessed officers were unable to safely escort the parade along the Garvaghy Road while the crowds remained. Orangemen make their way from Drumcree Church as police form a barricade to prevent them entering the Garvaghy Road during the stand-off Credit: Brian Lawless/PA Orange men stayed on Drumcree Hill and made a number of attempts to complete the parade by approaching the police line and making their case for almost two weeks.

Sir Chris stepped in to ban the parade on October 9 after hosting talks with the two sides and being unable to find an agreed resolution. In the latest in a series of legal challenges around the dispute, a judicial review was sought by a member of the institution to the intervention by Sir Chris, as well as the role of PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher. Last week at Belfast High Court, Mr Justice Scoffield heard a challenge to the “legality of the decision-making route” to ban the parade.

However, counsel for Sir Chris countered he could have taken “no other decision” than halting the Drumcree march. The court also heard PSNI intelligence that dissidents may have mounted gun attacks on the police had officers cleared a path for the parade.