The Drumcree conflict is an ongoing conflict over parades in the town of Portadown, Northern Ireland. The dispute is between the Orange Order and local residents (represented by the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition). The Orange Order (a Protestant and unionist organisation) insists that it should be allowed to march through largely Catholic and nationalist areas on its traditional route to-and-from Drumcree Church. Currently the only annual Orange parade through the contested area is held on the Sunday before The Twelfth of July.
During the 1970s and 1980s there were a few violent clashes as a result of the annual parade. However, in 1995 the dispute drew the attention of the international media as it led to widespread protests and rioting throughout Northern Ireland. This pattern was repeated every July for the next four years. During this time the dispute led to the deaths of at least five civilians and prompted a massive police and army operation. Since 1998 the parade has been banned from marching through the nationalist area, and the violence has subsided. However, regular moves to get the two sides into face-to-face talks have failed.
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Background
Red line: Route taken on the Sunday before 12 July, from their Carlton Street Hall (D) under the railway bridge (C) along Obins Street (A) to Drumcree Church (F) and back along Garvaghy Road (B).
Blue line: Route taken on the 12 July, from Corcrain Hall (E) along Obins Street (A) and under the railway bridge (C).
Green areas are largely nationalist/Catholic. Orange areas are largely unionist/Protestant.
The Orange Order was founded in an area called "The Diamond"[1] near the village of Loughgall, close to Portadown, in 1795. Since then the area has been a major centre of Orangeism, with many of the Order's oldest lodges being based in what is now the town of Portadown.[2] Since 1807, Portadown Orangemen have paraded from the centre of town, along Obins Street, to Drumcree Church, and returned along Garvaghy Road.[2] In the early 1800s, the area between the town and church was mostly fields. Protestant parades would regularly march through this area and past the Catholic church.[3] In 1835, Armagh magistrate William Hancock (a Protestant) wrote that, "For some time past the peaceable inhabitants of the parish of Drumcree have been insulted and outraged by large bodies of Orangemen parading the highways, playing party tunes, firing shots and using the most opprobrious epithets they could invent". He added that the Orangemen had gone "a considerable distance out of their way to pass a Catholic chapel on their march to Drumcree church".[4]
After the partition of Ireland in 1921, the Northern Ireland government's policy on parading tended to favour Protestant and unionist parades. From 1922 to 1950, nearly 100 parades and meetings were banned under the Special Powers Act, of which nearly all were nationalist or republican.[5] In Portadown, Protestant parades could regularly march along Obins Street, while local nationalist/republican bands could not, as there were some Protestant-owned houses. The Public Order Act 1951 exempted 'traditional' parades from having to ask police permission, but non-traditional parades could be banned or re-routed without appeal. This tended to benefit Protestant parades, which in previous decades had usually been allowed to go where they wanted.[6]
In the 1950s and 60s, a number of housing estates were built on the fields along Garvaghy Road. After the outbreak of "The Troubles" in 1969, the religiously mixed Portadown experienced "ethnic cleansing". The result was that these new estates became almost wholly Catholic and nationalist, while the rest of the town became almost wholly Protestant and unionist.
1972 conflict
In the late 1960s a conflict known as the Troubles broke out in Northern Ireland. In 1972, the Provisional IRA (a republican paramilitary group) warned that they would 'take action' if the Orange Order marched along Obins Street on 12th July. The Ulster Defence Association (a loyalist paramilitary group) threatened to take counter-action if anything was done to stop the parade.[7] On the morning of 12th July, the Orangemen paraded through the area escorted by the UDA.[8] Although the parade itself passed peacefully, three men (two Protestant, one Catholic) were killed in Portadown that day.[9] Later in the month both the IRA and loyalist paramilitaries exploded bombs in the area, and there was a gun battle involving both sets of paramilitaries and the security forces.[10] The UDA’s involvement made a lasting impression on Portadown nationalists.[11]
1980s conflict: Obins Street
1985
On 17 March (Saint Patrick's Day) the Saint Patrick's Accordion Band (a local nationalist band) was given permission to parade along Park Road. However, as there were a number of unionists living along the road, local unionist politicians campaigned to have it banned.[12] When the police would not agree to their demands, a small group of unionists staged a sit-down protest, and the police were compelled to change the route.[12] Following this incident, Portadown nationalists campaigned to get unionist parades re-routed from Obins Street.[12]
Shortly before the Drumcree parade of 7 July, hundreds of nationalists staged a sit-down protest on Obins Street. However, police violently removed the protestors and allowed the parade to continue.[12] On 12 July, eight Orange lodges met at Corcrain Orange Hall and attempted to march through Obins Street to the town centre. When they were blocked by police, hundreds of loyalists gathered at both ends of the road and tried to push through.[12] At least 52 police and 28 rioters were injured, while about 50 Catholic-owned premises were attacked.[12] After this, the police erected a barrier at each end of Obins Street.[12]
1986
On 1 April (Easter Monday), the Apprentice Boys planned to march along Garvaghy Road. The night before, police decided to ban the parade as it believed the UDA were taking part.[12] At 1:00am, up to 3000 men forced their way past police and marched along Garvaghy Road. Residents claimed that some of the marchers were carrying guns.[12] In the afternoon, another Apprentice Boys parade marched through the town centre. A group of loyalists attacked police, who were blocking access to the nationalist area. One was killed by a plastic bullet.[12]
On 6 July the Drumcree parade took place. Along the parade's route (Obins Street and Garvaghy Road), local residents were prevented from leaving their premises.[12] Both nationalists and loyalists attacked police, injuring at least 27.[12] The 12 July parade was blocked from Obins Street for the second year. Instead, police escorted the parade along Garvaghy Road without any bands.[12] Although there was no violence on Garvaghy Road, loyalists later rioted with police and attempted to smash through the barrier leading to Obins Street.[12]
After 1986, the parades were permanently banned from Obins Street.[12] In 1987 the Public Order Act was repealed by the Public Order (Northern Ireland) Order 1987, which removed the special status of traditional parades.[13]
1990s conflict: Garvaghy Road
Although nearly ten years passed without serious conflict over the Drumcree parades, both sides continued to be unhappy with the situation. Despite accepting the Garvaghy Road route, many Orangemen felt that they should be able to parade wherever they wanted to. Meanwhile, residents of Garvaghy Road were very unhappy about what they called "triumphalist" Orange parades through their area, and with the aid of various local politicians they continually campaigned to have the route changed.
1995
On Sunday 9 July 1995, hundreds of nationalist residents staged a sit-down protest on the Garvaghy Road to prevent the march continuing.[14] Although the parade was legal and the protest was not, police prevented the parade from taking the Garvaghy Road route. The Orangemen refused to take an alternate route, announcing that they would stay at Drumcree Church until they were allowed to continue. Negotiations were opened between the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition (GRRC), local politicians, the police and the Mediation Network, although the Orangemen refused to negotiate with the residents' group.
Meanwhile, ~10,000 Orangemen and their supporters were engaged in a standoff with ~1,000 police at Drumcree Church.[15] During this standoff, missiles were continuously thrown at the police, who responded by firing 24 plastic bullets.[15] In support of the Orangeman, loyalists blocked numerous roads across Northern Ireland, and completely sealed-off the port of Larne.[15] On the evening of Monday 10 July, Ian Paisley and David Trimble held a rally at Drumcree Church. Afterwards they gathered a number of Orangemen and attempted to push through the police barricade, but were taken away by officers.[15]
By the morning of Tuesday 11 July, a compromise was reached. The Orangemen would be allowed to march along Garvaghy Road on condition that they did so silently, without accompanying bands. GRRC spokesperson Brendan McKenna says that the agreement was that the parade would go silently along its original route, on the condition that future parades would only occur with the consent of residents.[16] This claim is not verified by other parties.[17] The protesters were eventually persuaded to clear the road, and the march went ahead. However, 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.[15] Trimble claims that he only took Paisley's hand to prevent the DUP leader from taking all the media attention.[18]
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, that
"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.'[19]
1996
On Saturday 6 July 1996, the Chief Constable stated that the parade would be prevented from marching along Garvaghy Road.[20]
On Sunday 7 July the parade assembled at Drumcree Church and was blocked by police barricades. At least 4,000 Orangemen and their supporters began another standoff. That afternoon, Reverend Martin Smyth (then Orange Grand Master) arrived at Drumcree and announced that there could be "no compromise".[21] Again, loyalists instigated riots and blocked hundreds of roads across Northern Ireland. On the night of 7 July, a Catholic taxi-driver was shot dead by a breakaway Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) unit near Lurgan.[22]
On Wednesday 10 July, the RUC reported that, over the previous four days, there had been:
- 100 incidents of intimidation
- 758 attacks on the police
- 90 civilians injured
- 50 police injured
- 662 plastic bullets fired by the police
- 156 arrests made[21]
At noon on Thursday 11 July, the Chief Constable reversed his decision and allowed the parade to march along Garvaghy Road. Residents of Garvaghy Road had not been consulted on this.[21] Rioting erupted immediately as police violently removed protestors from the Garvaghy Road.[21] Rioting also erupted in nationalist areas of Lurgan, Armagh, Belfast and Derry.[21] In Derry, twenty-two protestors were seriously injured and Dermot McShane (35) died after being run-over by a British Army armoured vehicle.[21] Rioting continued throughout the week, during which time the RUC fired a total of 6002 plastic bullets, 5000 of which were directed at nationalists.[21]
The Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ), who had sent members to observe the situation, condemned this "completely indiscriminate" use of plastic bullets.[21] Following the events, leaders of both Sinn Féin and the SDLP stated that nationalists had completely lost faith in the RUC as an impartial police force.[21]
1997
In late June 1997, Secretary of State Mo Mowlam had privately decided to let the parade proceed. This was later revealed in a leaked Northern Ireland Office document.[23] However, in the days leading up to the parade, she insisted that no decision had been made.[23]
On Thursday 3 July, the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) threatened to kill Catholic civilians if the march was not allowed to proceed.[23] The following day, sixty families had to be evacuated from their homes on Garvaghy Road after a loyalist bomb threat.[24] The Ulster Unionist Party also threatened to withdraw from the Northern Ireland peace process.[25]
On Sunday 6 July at 3:30am, 1500 British soldiers and police sealed-off the Garvaghy area.[23] This led to clashes with around 300 protestors. From this point onward, all residents were prevented from leaving their housing estates and accessing the main road.[23]
The parade marched along Garaghy Road at noon that day. After it passed, the security forces began withdrawing from the area. A riot developed, and ~40 plastic bullets were fired at rioters.[23] In nearby Lurgan, nationalist protestors stopped and set fire to a train.[23]
1998
Early in 1998 the Public Processions Act was passed, establishing the Parades Commission. The Commission was now responsible for deciding what route marches should take. On 29 June 1998, the Parades Commission decided to ban the parade from Garvaghy Road.[26]
On Friday 3 July about 1000 British soldiers and 1000 police were deployed in the area.[26] They constructed large barricades across all roads leading into the Garvaghy area. In the fields between Drumcree Church and the Garvaghy area they also dug a trench, which was then lined with rows of barbed wire.[26]
On Sunday 5 July the Orangemen arrived at Drumcree Church and stated that they would remain there until they were allowed to proceed.[26] A group calling itself "Portadown Action Command" issued a statement which read:
As from midnight on Friday 10th July 1998, any driver of any vehicle supplying any goods of any kind to the Gavaghy Road will be summarily executed.[27]
There was widespread loyalist violence across Northern Ireland. Over the next ten days, 2,561 "public order incidents" were recorded,[26] this included:[26]
- 144 houses attacked (the vast majority owned by Catholics and/or nationalists)
- 165 other buildings attacked (the vast majority owned by Catholics and/or nationalists)
- 178 vehicles hijacked
- 467 vehicles damaged
- 615 attacks on members of the security forces (including 24 shooting incidents)
- 76 police offices injured
- 632 petrol bombs thrown
- 837 plastic bullets fired by security forces
- 284 people arrested
On Sunday 12 July at 4:30am, Jason (aged 8), Mark (aged 9) and Richard Quinn (aged 10) were burnt to death when their home was firebombed by sectarian loyalists.[26] Following the murders, William Bingham (County Grand Chaplain of Armagh and member of the Orange Order negotiating team) said that "walking down the Garvaghy Road would be a hollow victory, because it would be in the shadow of three coffins of little boys who wouldn't even know what the Orange Order is about". He said that the Order had lost control of the situation and that "no road is worth a life".[28] However he later apologised for implying that the Order was in any way responsible for the deaths.[29]
The murders provoked widespread anger and calls for the Orange Order to end their protest at Drumcree. Although the number of Orangemen dropped considerably, the Portadown lodges voted unanimously to continue their standoff.[26]
On Wednesday 15 July at 6:30am the RUC began a search operation in the fields at Drumcree. A number of weapons were uncovered in the search, including: a home-made machine gun, ammunition, explosive devices, and crossbows with home-made explosive arrows.[26]
1999–present
In the year after July 1998 the British Government entered into protracted negotiations with the Garvaghy Road residents and the Orange Order, (the latter still refusing to talk directly to the former) but without any agreement being reached. Severe loyalist violence continued, including the murder of Garvaghy residents' legal advisor Rosemary Nelson by the Red Hand Defenders, a loyalist paramilitary. The parades themselves passed relatively peacefully, with no attempts by the Order to gain access to Garvaghy Road.[30] Some senior Portadown Orangemen claim that they had been promised a parade on Garvaghy Road later that year if they could control things on the traditional parading dates.[31] The following year the Parades Commission again denied the Order permission to parade on Garvaghy Road.
Since 2000 Drumcree has been relatively calm, with outside support for the Portadown lodges' campaign declining and the violence lessening significantly. McKenna has been quoted as saying that he believes the conflict is essentially over.[32] The Orange Order continues to campaign for the right to march on Garvaghy Road, and in recent years has begun talks with a range of nationalists and republicans, including Cardinal Sean Brady and Gerry Adams.
References
- ^ http://www.portadowndistrictlolno1.co.uk/Battle_of_the_Diamond.htm
- ^ a b Dominic Bryan, 'Drumcree and the "Right to March": Orangeism, Ritual and Politics in Northern Ireland', in T.G. Fraser, ed., The Irish Parading Tradition: Following the Drum, Houndmills, 2000, p.194.
- ^ Bryan, p.195.
- ^ McKay, Susan. Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People - Portadown. Blackstaff Press (2000).
- ^ Laura K. Dohohue, 'Regulating Northern Ireland: The Special Powers Acts, 1922-1972', The Historical Journal, 41, 4 (1998), p.1093.
- ^ Neil Jarman and Dominic Bryan, 'Green Parades in an Orange State: Nationalist and Republican Commemorations and Demonstrations from Partition to the Troubles, 1920-1970', in T.G. Fraser, ed., The Irish Parading Tradition: Following the Drum, London and New York, 2000, p.102.
- ^ Belfast Telegraph, 11 July 1972, p.1.
- ^ Belfast Telegraph, 12 July 1972, p.4.
- ^ Malcolm Sutton, An Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland - 1972
- ^ Dominic Bryan, T.G. Fraser and Seamus Dunn, Political Rituals:Loyalist Parades in Portadown, Portadown and its Orange Tradition
- ^ Mervyn Jess, The Orange Order, Dublin, 2007, p.101
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o CAIN - Bryan, Fraser and Dunn, Political Rituals: Loyalist Parades in Portadown - 1985 & 1986
- ^ Public Order (Northern Ireland) Order 1987.
- ^ Mervyn Jess, The Orange Order, Dublin, 2007, p.104.
- ^ a b c d e CAIN - Events in Drumcree - July 1995
- ^ Jess, p.109.
- ^ Jess, pp.109-11.
- ^ Jess, pp.110-1.
- ^ Jess, p.112.
- ^ - CAIN - Statement by the Chief Constable on his decision to re-route the Drumcree Parade - 1996
- ^ a b c d e f g h i CAIN - Events in Drumcree - 1996
- ^ Jess, p.114.
- ^ a b c d e f g CAIN - Events in Drumcree - July 1997
- ^ http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch97.htm#Jul
- ^ Jess, p.130.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i CAIN - Events in Drumcree - 1998
- ^ McKay, Susan. Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People - Portadown. Blackstaff Press (2000).
- ^ Jess, pp.134-5.
- ^ Jess, p.136.
- ^ CAIN web service: Developments at Drumcree, 1995-2000.
- ^ Jess, p.139.
- ^ Jess, p.143.
Further reading
- The Parades Commission's Determination in Relation to the Drumcree Church Parade on 5 July 1998
- Dominic Bryan, 'Drumcree: An Introduction to Parade Disputes' in his book Orange Parades: The Politics of Ritual, Tradition and Control (London: Pluto Press, 2000).
- Susan McKay, 'Portadown: Bitter Harvest' from her book Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People (Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2000).
- CAIN web service: Developments at Drumcree, 1995-2000
Websites of organisations directly involved in the dispute
- Archived version of the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition website
- Portadown District LOL No. 1
- Parades Commission
See also
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