STORY
Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant has revealed that two possible compromises were considered before he banned the Orange Order procession along the Garvaghy Road in Portadown. The decision followed almost two weeks of negotiations between the Portadown District Lodge and local nationalist residents, but no agreement could be reached.
One proposal would have allowed the Orange Order to complete one final march along the disputed route on the condition that it did not apply to use it again. The alternative would have involved the organisation accepting that it had secured the legal right to march while agreeing not to exercise that right. Bryant said the parties had come close to an agreement, but neither option received the necessary support.
The procession was banned after PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher warned that allowing it to proceed could create a risk of serious injury, disorder and wider unrest across Northern Ireland. Bryant defended his intervention as being in the interests of peace and called for associated protests and rallies to end, while saying that the original Parades Commission determination remained legally significant.