The Court of Appeal in Belfast reserved judgment on the Garvaghy Road parade legal challenge after residents asked it to overturn the decision allowing an Orange Order parade down the road. Three judges heard almost four hours of legal arguments on Monday, and the case now moves to a reserved decision.
Northern Ireland Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said the court would work to a "swift time frame" but could not give a date for its ruling. That leaves the residents, the Orange Order and police waiting on the next step in a dispute that has already run for more than a week on Garvaghy Road.
Siobhan Keegan in Belfast
Residents are appealing a High Court judge's decision of 27 September, when leave to apply for a judicial review was refused. In practical terms, the Court of Appeal is now deciding whether the challenge can continue, or whether the decision allowing the parade to proceed stands.
The hearing took place inside a packed courtroom in Belfast. The appeal is separate from the underlying protest investigation, but it sits on top of the same dispute over whether the parade should have been allowed to go ahead.
Mary Lou McDonald at Garvaghy Road
Mary Lou McDonald and First Minister Michelle O'Neill attended the protest on Garvaghy Road. McDonald said Sinn Féin will cooperate with any police investigation but said there are moments in politics when people "have to take a stand".
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said an investigation is under way into protests against the Garvaghy Road parade. Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said investigators are examining potential offences including taking part in an unnotified protest, obstructing a lawful parade and breaching a Parades Commission determination.
Garvaghy Road parade dispute
Residents and protesters have periodically blocked Garvaghy Road and maintained a presence there for more than a week. Orangemen have repeatedly tried to complete the march, but police turned them back because it was unsafe to proceed.
The route from Drumcree Church down Garvaghy Road has been contested before. In the mid-to-late 1990s, the dispute created yearly stand-offs that were accompanied by riots, roadblocks and killings, and this appeal now sits inside that same long-running argument over who can move through the road and when.
The immediate issue is narrow: whether the Court of Appeal allows the residents' challenge to continue or leaves the parade decision in place. Either way, the court's reserved judgment is the point at which the legal route turns next.
