Northern Ireland parade dispute talks make progress
Talks to end a standoff over a contentious Protestant parade in Northern Ireland made headway Wednesday, with Catholic residents saying they would accept a government proposal if the pro-British Orange Order also agreed.
Northern Ireland parade dispute talks make progressThe dispute entered its fourth day after thousands blocked the Protestant Orange Order from marching through their mainly Catholic neighbourhood in Portadown, southwest of Belfast, on Sunday.
Residents' representative Breandan Mac Cionnaith spoke after almost seven hours of talks with Britain's Northern Ireland minister Chris Bryant at Hillsborough Castle, west of Belfast.
He said residents had examined a document from Bryant, but could not disclose its contents.
"If it's accepted by the Orange Order, it will be accepted by us," he told reporters.
Bryant described a resolution as "tantalisingly close" but said further compromise was needed after separate talks with residents and Orange Order representatives.
Sunday's planned procession by 35 Orange Order members along Garvaghy Road had been authorised for the first time in almost three decades by the Parades Commission, the independent body that regulates contentious marches in Northern Ireland.
It also won the backing of the courts.
Northern Ireland police chief Jon Boutcher said Wednesday a large-scale criminal investigation was underway into the blockade.
Pro-UK unionist politicians and the Orange Order have called for Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald and other Sinn Fein ministers to be prosecuted for taking part.
"I stand over my choice. There are times in life you have to do the right thing," O'Neill said Wednesday during a return visit to Garvaghy Road.
A residents' appeal challenging the court ruling that upheld the commission's decision to allow the parade is scheduled for Friday in Belfast.
There was deadly unrest around the parade in the 1990s, and the procession last went ahead along Garvaghy Road in 1997.
It was barred the following year, when a peace accord largely ended three decades of conflict over British rule.
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