Gerry Carroll MLA, Paul Murphy TD and Dublin City Councillor Conor Reddy stood with residents blocking the Garvaghy Road overnight, into Sunday morning.
Gerry Carroll said: "We welcome the news that the Orangemen at Garvaghy have been ordered back to Drumcree Church. But nobody here is under any illusions. Orangemen are waiting in a hall on a hill for word that a community can be cleared out of their way. Many more of their supporters are standing by in Portadown. Every family on this road knows exactly where this could lead, from bitter experience.”
"This a community held hostage to a march that nobody wants, on a Sunday morning in the rain, while residents try to go about their lives. Keeping the people of the Garvaghy Road on edge for hours on end is simply a siege by another name. Portadown District should do the decent thing and go home now.”
Cllr Conor Reddy added: "In recent weeks we have heard devastating stories from residents forced to relive the trauma of the past. This morning two women, including the mother of twelve-year-old Darren Murray, who died in the bitter sectarian aftermath of Drumcree in 1996, stood at the front line and confronted the PSNI, pushing back their Land Rovers from the front line.
"Their grief lives with them every day. Their courage this morning should shame every politician who spent the last month cheering this on from the court steps. It is an inspiration to all of us who stood with them."
Paul Murphy TD added: "Well over a thousand people from every corner of Ireland stood on this road through the night in solidarity with the residents of the Garvaghy Road. They waited in the cold and the rain because they understood what was at stake.”
There is no appetite in any working class community for a return to the sectarian division and violence of the past, whatever Jim Allister or Jamie Bryson would like. What happened over the past 24 hours at Garvaghy was a stand against sectarianism, violence and hatred, and a testament to the power of ordinary people organised together. Residents won’t be backing down until the threat of sectarian domination and bigotry has dissipated.”
