Northern Ireland court allows Protestant march in Catholic area

Residents of the Garvaghy Road area had challenged Friday's ruling ​by Northern Ireland's Parades Commission that permitted the Orange Order to march along their road, a Catholic ​enclave in the largely Protestant town, overturning an almost 30-year ban on the route. A crowd gathered on the Garvaghy Road early on Sunday morning to protest against the ruling allowing the march.

In the crowd were Northern Ireland First Minister ​Michelle O'Neill, who is also vice president of the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party, and her party's ​leader, Mary Lou Mc. Donald, video posted on social media showed.

"Although the forces of darkness may want to stop us creating ‌a ⁠new united Ireland, they will fail," Mc.

Donald in the clip, posted on X.Carla Lockhart, a member of parliament from the Democratic Unionist Party, that it was up to Sinn Fein and other nationalist politicians to abide by the rule of law and allow ​the parade to pass ​through. The original dispute over ⁠the route became one of the defining flashpoints of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Annual attempts by the Protestant Orange Order to march through the area triggered ​unrest across the British-run region before the route was banned in 1998, the ​year the ⁠Good Friday Agreement largely ended the three decades of violence known as the "Troubles".

The Parades Commission's determination on Friday stipulated that a smaller-than-usual 35 people could take part in the march, that it should begin by 8 a.m. (0700 ⁠GMT) ​and finish by 9:30 a.m. and that no supporters or ​bands would be allowed.

The commission had initially maintained its ban, but the High Court quashed that decision in August over a procedural ​error.