WEST Belfast MLA Gerry Carroll has said that he would stand with the Garvaghy Road residents again "in a heartbeat", after attending a police interview in relation to his attendance at a protest against an Orange Order march last month.
Last Thursday Mr Carroll confirmed that he had received a letter from the PSNI to attend a police interview after residents and supporters blocked the Garvaghy Road in Portadown to prevent the controversial parade from going past nationalist homes. Sinn Féin also confirmed that a number of its reps had also received letters from the police including First Minister Michelle O'Neill.
Speaking after attending the interview at Musgrave PSNI station , which he said he did voluntarily along with his solicitor, Mr Carroll said he was on the Garvaghy Road "openly, as an elected representative, standing with residents".
"Notice of their protest was given and referenced in open court, and the legal position changed repeatedly overnight," he said. "Everyone on the road acted peacefully, and there was no evidence of violence. I was exercising my right to free expression and peaceful assembly.
"For nearly three decades, Garvaghy Road residents have said no to a sectarian march being forced past their homes. 4,000 residents signed petitions against it.
"When a community asks for support, that’s exactly when an elected representative should turn up."
Mr Carroll added that peaceful protest is "a fundamental right".
"Every gain working-class people have made – from the Suffragettes to civil rights, to the right to strike – was won by people willing to defy unjust laws. Over £3 million went on policing Drumcree in five days, and now more goes on pursuing peaceful protesters. All this, while patients wait years for treatment and families sit on housing lists.
"The march wasn’t stopped by the Chief Constable or the Secretary of State. It was stopped by the residents and the thousands from across Ireland who came to support them.
"Unionist elites spent two weeks trying to mobilise their base, and the base didn’t turn out. The vast majority of Protestants and unionists have no appetite for the bigotry of the past. The DUP is losing ground to the TUV and mired in scandal. It reaches for sectarian division because it can’t build houses or cut waiting lists. Working-class Protestants are on the same housing lists and in the same hospital queues as their Catholic neighbours. No march down anybody’s road changes that.
"I make no apology for standing with the Garvaghy Road residents, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Twenty-one people died in the violence surrounding this parade. I’m proud to stand with a community that refuses to go back to those days."
