GARVAGHY ROAD RESIDENTS COALITION
Portadown
Co. Armagh, Ireland
Phone/Fax: Int.Code +44 (0)1762 392898
E-Mail Garvaghy @ aol.com
GARVAGHY ROAD UPDATE
08:00 Local Time
The night passed quietly with no disturbances or trouble throughout the hemmed-in nationalist area of Portadown. RUC patrols the area in armoured trucks, but no problems inside the barricades have been reported since last night. The residents for the most part slept peacefully, many in anticipation of a long day ahead. International Observers remained on duty throughout the night monitoring every major corner and military outpost in the area.
Early this morning on a live interview with Radio Five in London, one of the Coalition members explained that the only experience the Catholic youth of this community have of Protestants is being hemmed in once a year, having their mothers and grandmothers batoned off the side of the road, and having to face threats, obscenities and sometimes stones when they try to go into town. This behavior, she said, is what breeds sectarianism and is what the residents want to free their children of. The radio interviewer was simultaneously interviewing Davy Jones of the local Orange Order, who insists that the march should be let down the road.
The interviewer asked the Coalition member why the residents did not just go inside their houses and shut their doors and let the march through. She explained that this was not a way they could teach dignity and humanity to their children or demonstrate for them a peaceful protest of sectarianism and the abhorrent way they have been treated as unequal human beings by the Orange Order and the crown forces. As she tried to discuss the fact that the crux of the issue was not the parade itself but rather the underlying attitude that accompanies it, and the fact that the Orange Order has NEVER talked with residents, even before Breandan Mac Cionnaith was the chairperson of the GRRC, she was interrupted several times by the interviewer and then he abruptly cut her off the interview, leaving her in mid-sentence.
The attitude of some members of the media seems to continue to revolve around demonizing the residents and focusing on the "plight" of the Orangemen. Just last week an Orangeman called the Portadown Nationalist residents "dogs." It appears for now that they continue to be treated as if they were only wild animals to be contained.
Despite the odds, most residents believe there will be little trouble today, as the army seems prepared to keep the Orangemen out. The scepticism arises when the residents look to the days and nights ahead. Memories of 1996 keep everyone wondering how strong the pressure might get. There is relative calm within the Nationalist community and the residents remain hopeful that the standoff outside the barricades that surround them will not lead to widespread disturbances. The Orange Order continues to insist that it will march down the Garvaghy Road, even though there have been assurances from Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan and British government authorities that they will block any such attempts.
At this hour last year, the people had already been brutally beaten off the road by the RUC and trampled underfoot by troops who cleared the road to allow the march to go through. Some residents who were up early this morning quietly discussed their recollections of that terror-filled morning and commented on how different it seems this year.
Near one of the routes that the Orangemen could try to use to get into the area, a lone Protestant man has set up a steady prayer and fast vigil. He is joined periodically by other protestants and catholics who by their very position on the road reject the triumphalism of the Orange Order, and by their actions demonstrate the true nature of both religious traditions. This one example of protest against the sectarianism that has underpinned the operation of the six counties for so many years shows the residents of the area that there is still a chance to overcome the divisions and work towards a future together with their neighbours.
On this quiet morning, as the people begin to gather at the Drumcree Community Centre and at the Garvaghy Road, fear is slowly giving way to halting hope.