Tensions in Northern Ireland: Why the 30-year-old Garvaghy Road parade row is back

People block the Garvaghy road ahead of the Protestant Orange Drumcree parade. (Reuters photo) Tensions remained high in Northern Ireland on Monday after police prevented members of the Orange Order from marching along the Garvaghy Road in Portadown, despite the route being legally approved for the first time in nearly three decades.The stand-off followed a day of protests in which thousands gathered to block the road, while police kept the two sides apart.The dispute centres on the Drumcree parade, an annual march by the Orange Order, a Protestant organisation closely associated with British unionism.The march was supposed to pass through Garvaghy Road, a predominantly Catholic and Irish nationalist area of Portadown. The route had been banned since 1998 because previous attempts to use it had triggered serious unrest.Why did the latest confrontation happen?Northern Ireland's Parades Commission had initially kept restrictions on the march, but a court challenge overturned the decision. The commission then allowed a much smaller parade of 35 people, without bands or supporters, and required it to start by 8am and finish by 9.30am. A final court challenge by residents was also rejec...