Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald has called on the Secretary of State to intervene and “lift the threat” of an Orange Order march along the Garvaghy Road, during a visit to the area on Saturday afternoon.
Speaking at a press briefing on the Garvaghy Road – following a major solidarity rally attended by thousands – Ms McDonald said Sinn Féin stood “shoulder to shoulder” with local residents and insisted there would be “no Orange march on the Garvaghy Road”.
She said: “Today, the level of support that there is for this community all across Ireland and beyond… we are here again, as we have said from the very beginning, to stand shoulder to shoulder with this community and to absolutely defend their right to live free from sectarian harassment.
“We stand with them to protect the progress that has been made over 28 years and more, and to say very, very clearly that there will be no orange march on the Garvaghy Road, and that the British government, the Secretary of State, needs to intervene and make sure that that is the case.”
Ms McDonald said residents had not “invited” the current tension and disruption.
“This community didn’t invite all of this on itself. This came to them. It has caused stress, distress, trauma again,” she said.
“But I really hope that the community is very comforted by the fact that over the last week, indeed over the last number of weeks, they have had the ear, the eyes, and the heart of Ireland and beyond, and people have stood with them and will continue to stand with them, shoulder to shoulder.”
She urged the British government to “have all eyes on Garvaghy Road today” and to listen to the message from residents and supporters.
“This has to stop, this has to end,” she said. “There has to be a lifting of the threat of any sectarian march down this road, and the people’s rights have to be respected. That’s why we are all here today.
“We’re constructive people. We are in the business of building a new Ireland and a new future for all of us and for all of our children. But that new society, that new Ireland, can only be built on foundations of equality and respect and an absolute rejection of any form of sectarian harassment or hate.”
Asked about the scale of support from across the island, Ms McDonald said she had met people who had travelled from Cork, Galway, Monaghan and Donegal.
“Well, it says that they are not alone; that people stand shoulder to shoulder with them,” she said.
“But I think it speaks to now the character, not just of people of this community, but far, far beyond. We are not allowing the progress that we have built over decades to be squandered, damaged by rejectionist elements in unionism or anywhere else.
“We will defend the peace. We will defend our progress, and we will defend the right of this community and any other to live peacefully and to create a better future for their children.”
First Minister Michelle O’Neill, who also met residents on the Garvaghy Road, said “everyone wants the right outcome” from the current stand-off.
“And the right outcome includes no march down this road,” she said.
“I think that this community are overwhelmed with the support that they have received throughout the course of the last week. The sheer volume of people that have come here today to show their determination to support this community to have their rights protected.
“I hope there’s the right outcome, but the right outcome needs to be not trampled over this community.”
Responding to a question about Sir Chris Bryant’s handling of the dispute, Ms McDonald accused the Secretary of State of having only a “superficial understanding” of the situation.
“The Secretary of State is tone deaf to what’s happened here on the Garvaghy Road. He is tone deaf to the needs of this community,” she said.
“He has a superficial understanding of the needs of this community, and we’re not going to tolerate it. He could have stopped this. He could have stepped in, and here we are one week later, and he still has not done so.
“But our message today is that he needs to do the right thing. I’ve heard him talk about being between a rock and a hard place. I never heard such nonsense. This is a battle for what’s right and what’s wrong.”
Asked whether there was any point in further talks with the Secretary of State, or if the only acceptable outcome was to cancel the proposed parade, Ms McDonald said the situation “should never” have been allowed to escalate.
“Just remember, the Secretary of State from the word go could have stopped this,” she said.
“This level of disruption and trauma and uncertainty should never, ever have been visited on this community. So he should have intervened early. He can still intervene now.
“But remember that he brought the parties together for talks. A proposal was put on the table. It seemed to meet with some favour from the residents here. The Orange Order had a different view. That’s the nature of talks.
“But then the Secretary of State let everything drop and walked away. So there has to be a level of seriousness here from the British government in its totality.
“This is a situation not of the making of this community, and it is a situation that requires a resolution. Now we don’t want this to go on for one day longer. We want absolute clarity that there is no threat to this community, and that there is an absolute and shared commitment for a right to live free from sectarian harassment. It’s as fundamental as that for us.”
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