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Northern Ireland police probe blockade of disputed parade / Photo: © AFP
Northern Ireland police probe blockade of disputed parade
Northern Ireland's police chief said Wednesday a criminal probe was underway into protests blocking a pro-British Protestant parade through a mainly Catholic area, as the standoff dragged into a fourth day despite ongoing talks.
"A large scale criminal investigation is underway regarding unlawful protest on the Garvaghy Road," Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said in a statement.
Thousands occupied the Garvaghy Road in Portadown, southwest of Belfast, on Sunday to prevent 35 members of the Protestant Orange Order from marching through the mainly Catholic neighbourhood.
The controversial procession 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, and also won the backing of the courts.
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 over their participation in the blockade.
O'Neill told reporters in Dublin Tuesday that she did not expect to be arrested.
According to residents, the parade's authorisation was based on faulty police intelligence that the march would not meet any resistance.
Boutcher said police were seeking to implement the decision peacefully while protecting public safety.
The Orange Order and Garvaghy Road residents continued separate talks Wednesday with Britain's Northern Ireland minister Chris Bryant at Hillsborough Castle, west of Belfast, after earlier rounds failed to produce a breakthrough.
On Tuesday the residents' spokesperson Breandan Mac Cionnaith described the prospect of mediation as "dead in the water", having said Monday that residents would be open to a process involving an international mediator.
A residents' appeal challenging the court ruling that upheld the commission's decision is scheduled for Friday in Belfast.
The dispute triggered deadly unrest in the 1990s.
The procession last went ahead along Garvaghy Road in 1997, amid large-scale protests in Catholic areas of the UK region.
It was barred the following year, when a peace accord largely ended three decades of conflict over British rule.
A. de Almeida--JDB
