Large crowd blocking route march was due to take in Catholic enclave of largely Protestant town
Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill, at the scene of the counter-protest this morning also spoke alongside Mary Lou McDonald.
O’Neill said she had called on Northern Ireland secretary Chris Bryant to intervene.
She told reporters: “Does anybody think that this is a good idea? No right-minded person would make this decision.
“I still do not know the answer to this question - why, after 28 years of determination to block a march down this road, the Parades Commission thought that this was the right idea today to bring this mess back onto this community?”
Local MP Carla Lockhart, from the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, posted this morning on X describing the marchers as a “dignified grouping of men, walking silently down Garvaghy Road”.
She included a photo of the small group in suits, wearing orange silk sashes and black bowler hats and carrying a banner.
“There is no threat, no triumphalism, not even music. There is nothing to fear. The rule of law must prevail,” she wrote.
