Drumcree

Each July, for the past few years, Britain has come to a halt and watched with horror the events unfolding in the little parish of Drumcree, near Portadown, County Armagh, as republican "residents groups" with the support of the Irish government, blocked the local Orangemen from walking home from church along the Garvaghy Road, the main road into Portadown from the church.

Due largely to pressure from the Southern Irish foreign affairs department, then under Dick Spring, the British government put pressure on the RUC to block the Orangemen from proceeding down the road. Needless to say this has led to a massive response from ordinary unionists and orangemen from all over the British Isles and beyond. Demonstrations on a scale not seen on this continent since the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Eastern Europe, broke out across Northern Ireland as unionists converged on Drumcree to protest what they saw as the government ignoring the ancient right of British citizens to walk the Queens highway.

While it would be impossible to convey the sheer sense of frustration evident in our community at the sight of the legitimate forces of the state colluding with "residents groupings" which are little more than a front for terrorism, we do hope to challenge any preconceptions you may have of the situation. It is in this hope that we have compiled a list of Ten things you never knew about Drumcree.

10 things you never knew about Drumcree

Did you know?
1. The tradition of parading in this area is almost 200 years old and stretches back to before the Garvaghy Road even existed?
2. The Catholic housing estates in question are quite some distance away from the road itself - those "residents" who do protest actually have to travel some distance in order to come out to the road and be offended!
3. The Garvaghy Road housing estate used to be a mixed area before the local Protestant minority were driven out by the IRA?
4. One end of the Garvaghy Road is still a "Protestant" Area - approximately 20% of Garvaghy Road residents are therefore Protestants.
5. The Garvaghy Road is not a small road through a Catholic area as it has been portrayed. It is in fact the main road into Portadown from the M1 motorway.
6. Parades in the Portadown area were last rerouted 10 years ago and that the Garvaghy Road was a compromise route suggested by the Irish government?
7. This is a church parade, consisting of a group of approximately 1,000 elderly men singing hymns whilst returning from worship?
8. That the leader of the local "residents association" doesn't even live on the Garvaghy Road housing estate?
9. That Orange bands traditionally do not play political tunes whilst passing Catholic areas?
10. That the Drumcree/Garvaghy Road church parade takes just 15 minutes to pass into Portadown?

Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition

Brendan Mac Cionnaith, Spokesman -  Took a Garvaghy Road family hostage while other republicans blew up a British Legion Hall in Portadown. Convicted of kidnapping, hi-jacking and arms offences. Last summer he took upon himself the role of "speaking for the residents" during the Drumcree controversy. Does not live on the Garvaghy Road, instead he lives on a separate housing estate half a mile away.  Click Here to read the Newspaper Report.

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HERE WE STAND - WE CAN DO NO OTHER