Portadown: Rallies take place on Garvaghy Road and Edgarstown over Drumcree dispute
Protesters have remained on Garvaghy Road and the Portadown District has maintained a presence at Drumcree Church after talks to end the parading dispute ended without agreement on Thursday.
A fresh legal bid by the residents to prevent the march was due to be heard on Friday – but has now been postponed until Monday.
O’Neill told the crowds on Saturday that “if this British government isn’t prepared to end this crisis, then it’s up to the thousands here, to collectively stand with the Garvaghy Road residents”.
She said: “We will stand shoulder to shoulder for as long as it takes.”
In a post of social media, Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said the “behaviour of Michelle O’Neill and her party has been disgraceful” and a “complete abdication of leadership”.
She added: “The full weight of the law must be applied. Unionism must not lower itself to provocation or hate – all should remain calm.”
Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), Jon Burrows, said the scenes at the Garvaghy Road on Saturday “represent a serious failure of political leadership”.
“It was a carnival of law-breaking and triumphalism,” he said.
Former SDLP MLA Dolores Kelly spoke at the rally and said: “Never again did we think we’d be on the Garvaghy Road again to say no going back and no Orange Order parades in the Garvaghy Road.”
A smaller event was also held in the Edgarstown area of Portadown in support of the Portadown District Orange Lodge.
