N. IRELAND: PORTADOWN: LOYALIST RESIDENTS STAGE ANGRY PROTEST

(7 Jul 1998) Natural Sound

Loyalist residents of the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road flashpoint in Northern Ireland have staged an angry protest in support of the Protestant Orange Order's demand to march along the road.

The Orangemen have been staging a sit-in since Sunday, when their annual controversial Drumcree March was blocked from entering the hostile Catholic area.

The marchers say they are prepared to wait for as long as it takes to be allowed to proceed on their traditional parade route through the Garvaghy Road.

Angry Loyalist (mainly Protestant) residents take to the streets of Portadown to show their support for the Protestant fraternal group, the Orange Order.

Riot police lined up as men jeered and chanted at passing traffic on Dungannon Street, situated close to a Catholic church.

A group of Protestant supporters also held up traffic near the entrance to the mainly Catholic Garvaghy Road - the centre of the current crisis in Portadown.

The Orange Order has been engaged in a standoff with Northern Ireland's security forces since Sunday, when the controversial Drumcree March was halted before marching through the road.

They are banned from taking their traditional route through Garvaghy Road because the last two years of marches have sparked riots across the province.

But the current standoff has also led to violent clashes between Loyalist supporters and security forces elsewhere in the province - notably Belfast.

The Orangemen in Portadown have vowed to stay put in until they are allowed to proceed through the security barricade.

At daybreak on Tuesday, the group's makeshift campsite near the blockade remained in place.

British troops remain in position in the surrounding area.

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