{"id":643472,"date":"2026-10-03T09:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T09:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/643472\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T09:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T09:26:09","slug":"drumcree-uks-northern-ireland-secretary-urges-people-to-stay-away-from-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/643472\/","title":{"rendered":"Drumcree: UK&#8217;s Northern Ireland secretary urges people to stay away from area"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE UK\u2019S NORTHERN Ireland secretary has urged calm this weekend amid the ongoing standoff in Portadown, including telling people to stop travelling to the area.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Bryant said on social media that his \u201cdoor remains open\u201d as he urged the sides to come to a \u201cmutually acceptable agreement\u201d to end the dispute.<\/p>\n<p>People from across the island have been going to Co Armagh over the past week to show support, with a number of Oireacthas TDs seen travelling to show support to Garvaghy Road residents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone across Northern Ireland wants a peaceful resolution to the situation in Portadown,\u201d Bryant said on X on Friday night.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m continuing to work to find a mutually acceptable agreement and I\u2019m grateful to everyone who has offered help and has taken part in the discussions so far. My door remains open and I repeat my calls for people to support further compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\" xml:lang=\"en\">Everyone across Northern Ireland wants a peaceful resolution to the situation in Portadown. I\u2019m continuing to work to find a mutually acceptable agreement and I\u2019m grateful to everyone who has offered help and has taken part in the discussions so far. My door remains open and 1\/3<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RhonddaBryant\/status\/2106035922391216588?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">October 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bryant further said that he would \u201cespecially urge calm this weekend\u201d, adding that people need to stop travelling to Portadown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would also encourage people to ignore calls for more people to come to the area at this time of tension. Such calls are unhelpful and are likely to put further strain on police resources which are already stretched,\u201d the Uk government representative said.<\/p>\n<p>The dispute around the controversial Drumcree parade was sparked after marchers were given the greenlight last week by the Parades Commission for the first time since 1998, but has been stalled ever since following a protest by the Garvaghy Road residents.<\/p>\n<p>The coalition of residents in the largely nationalist area is opposed to the parade due to the conflict associated with it in the 1990s. A number of people were killed during the tensions, with many nationalists putting the total figure at 21.<\/p>\n<p>Talks to break the deadlock were launched earlier this week, but ended without agreement again on Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>In a fresh statement on Friday afternoon, Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson of the PSNI said the \u201cmajor public safety operation\u201d will continue throughout the weekend, and police will do \u201ceverything we can\u201d to maintain order.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur investigation into anyone suspected of breaking the law related to this dispute is continuing at pace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Two men have been interviewed under caution for common assault and disorderly behaviour. Two others appeared in court on Thursday charged with various offences committed in Portadown over the last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE UK\u2019S NORTHERN Ireland secretary has urged calm this weekend amid the ongoing standoff in Portadown, including telling&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[73902,270806,270807,61,60,43,2443,119373],"class_list":["post-643472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-chris-bryant","tag-drumcree","tag-garvaghy-road","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-portadown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}