A ‘family support’ event is to be held in Portadown in support of the Orange Order’s stand at Drumcree.
Three bands – Portadown Defenders, Portadown True Blues and Markethill Volunteers Flute – are to play at the event on Tuesday evening.
It is due to take place at the site of the bonfire in the Edgarstown Estate from 6pm tonight (Tuesday).
The Edgarstown Loyalist Bonfire shared details of its plans for the ‘zero alcohol’ event on social media as the stand-off which has developed entered a third day.
It said: “A variety of groups and individuals are working together to organise an event for families to stand shoulder to shoulder in support of Portadown District LOL No.1 tonight in the Loyalist Edgarstown Estate, Portadown.
“Bring the family, bring a fold out chair, hear speakers from the stage and enjoy the atmosphere as we come together in support of Drumcree, Cultural and Human Rights.”
Hundreds came out in support of the Orange Order on Monday night, after 35 Orangemen from Portadown District LOL No 1 were prevented from walking along the Garvaghy Road on Sunday morning.
Edgarstown Loyalist Bonfire had thanked them all for “abiding by the law and sending a reminder to the Secretary of State and PSNI that this issue won’t be going away until Portadown District complete their return home in line with the court’s decision”.
Portadown District adviser Jamie Bryson has also shared details of tonight’s plans – and reiterated calls for First Minister Michelle O’Neill to “be arrested”.
He said: “Communities in Portadown and across Northern Ireland are organising in support of the lawful and loyal 35, currently on the hill at Drumcree simply asking for the law to be upheld.
“They have won the legal right to complete their route for the first time in 28 years. The rule of law requires that is accepted, and conversely that the rule of the mob does not prevail.
This is a matter of fundamental principle. When the law ruled against Portadown District for 28 years, they- under protest & despite strongly opposing these determinations- peacefully and lawfully complied.
“On one single occasion it didn’t go nationalism’s way, they have engaged in unlawful activity and sought to defy the rule of law, led by Michelle O’Neill, who should be arrested (and if she was a unionist or loyalist, would already have been).
“I would urge everyone if you are organising events, then do it like this – family friendly and cultural.
“The unionist community have at all times behaved peacefully and lawfully. The law is on our side, and it must be upheld. If it is not, when everything falls apart and it won’t be able to be put back together.”
The Secretary of State Chris Bryant, meanwhile, is expected to return to Northern Ireland on Tuesday for further talks.
He met with Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition spokesperson Breandán Mac Cionnaith on Monday in an effort to bring an end to the stand-off which has once again sprung up around Drumcree.
Addressing protestors on the Garvaghy Road last night, Mr Mac Cionnaith said it was his belief that the British Government – pressing for mediation – already had a “game plan in place”.
He said the British Government should be recruiting a mediator “from outside Ireland or Britain” and “someone who has no connection here and therefore is completely independent of any decision they reach”.
Said Mr Mac Cionnaith: “I reckon what the Brits are going to do is line this up that we are going to be seen as the unreasonable one, because I’m sure there’s been more discussion between the Brits and the Orange Order than there has been with us.
“So over the next couple of days there’ll be more exchanges between us and the Government but I believe that the British Government already have their game plan in place and it’s to make us to be the unreasonable ones and it’s to make the Orange Order look good.
“And it goes beyond here, it goes beyond the Garvaghy Road, because the British know that the political process is already in crisis and that they need to be seen to give something to unionism, whether it’s the DUP, Ulster Unionism or the TUV, and we might be the sacrificial lamb, and they’re using this process to create us as the sacrificial lamb. They’re also doing this so that anything that happens on Sunday will be seen to be our fault.”
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