Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition

July 1998 As It Happened

In July, 1998 the Orange Order was prevented from marching down the Garvaghy Road by decision of the Parades Commission. In response, the Portadown Lodge of the Orange Order launched a "protest" which included nightly attacks on the Garvaghy Road, and a barrage of assaults on the British army and RUC barriers which enclosed and cut off the small community. The Orange Order declared they would not cease their actions until they were able to march down the Garvaghy Road. July 1998 signaled the beginning of a siege  on the Nationalist Residents of Portadown that continues to this day. Even the murders of the three young Quinn boys, RUC officer Frank Reilly, and human rights solicitor and legal advocate of the Garvaghy Road, Rosemary Nelson have not led the government or the public to insist that the terrorizing of the Garvaghy Road end.