THE Orange Order has launched an attack on the Parades Commission on the 20th anniversary of the Drumcree stand-off.
Scores of Orangemen gathered at Drumcree parish church near Portadown in Co Armagh yesterday to mark the anniversary.
The Drumcree crisis was ignited two decades ago after nationalist residents blocked the route of Orangemen along the Garvaghy Road.
Members of the Order have staged weekly protests at the site since they were banned from marching along the mainly nationalist road in 1998.
After attending a service at Drumcree Church yesterday Orangemen marched to police lines where a protest was held.
Portadown District Master Darryl Hewitt and the Order’s grand secretary Drew Nelson both spoke.
Mr Hewitt said he has written to the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition inviting it to meet with them.
He also called on Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly to urge resident to meet with the Order.
Rounding on the Parades Commission, Mr Hewitt described the panel, as an “unelected and unaccountable quango”.
He revealed that members of the Order have met with Secretary of State Theresa Villiers and Archbishop Eamon Martin in the recent past.
Drew Nelson called for change to current parading legislation.
Garvaghy residents spokesman Breandán MacCionnaith has previously urged members of the Orange Order to consider an alternative route.
“Our community has moved on, others need to do likewise,” he said.
The Drumcree crisis kicked off after nationalists blocked the Orange Order’s route in July 1995.
There was anger in nationalist communities in the following two years when the RUC forced Orangemen through the nationalist district.
In 1997 Catholic taxi-driver Michael McGoldrick was shot dead near Lurgan by the UVF, which supported the Orange Order.
In 1998 the crisis reached a head when three Catholic children died after a UVF arson attack on their home in Ballymoney, Co Antrim, which was linked to tensions surrounding the ongoing protest at Drumcree.
