SEVERAL thousand people have attended a rally on the Garvaghy Road this afternoon in support of residents in their determination not to have an Orange march forced through their area.
 
Speakers included Breandán Mac Cionnaith from the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and deputy leader Michelle O’Neill, Gerry Carroll from People Before Profit and Aontú leader Peadar Tóbín as well as Linzi McLaren who was one of over 1,000 people from a Protestant background who signed a letter this week in support of the Garvaghy Road residents.
 
Several musicians also played from the main platform including Fergus Ó hÍr and Gráinne Holland.
 
Speaker after speaker told those gathered over the course of an hour that there will be no Orange parade on the Garvaghy Road.

Saturday marked the seventh day since residents and supporters from across the country blocked an Orange march from progressing on to the nationalist stretch of road in Portadown, and have held a presence on the road ever since. 
 
Residents' spokesperson Breandán Mac Cionnaith said that during the week he put a question to the Secretary of State Chris Bryant during talks at Hillsborough Castle.

Breandán Mac Cionnaith
2Gallery

Breandán Mac Cionnaith

“If instead of the Garvaghy Road being in Portadown and it was in London or Birmingham or some English city and some right wing fascist organisation wished to walk through a minority community would the British government not stop it?" he asked.

“And I don’t think he realised the significance of that question or even the timing of that question because this weekend sees the ninetieth anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street and those of you who know your history and the fight against fascism will know that the fascists who tried to march through minority communities in Cable Street were beaten and chased.
 
“There is another fascist right-wing organisation here in Ireland, there’s no other way to describe it. Why else could an organisation exclude almost every Catholic in this country from its membership? Sectarianism, fascism, racism are the same mindset. They treat other people lesser than themselves. We are not a lesser people; we never were; and we never will be.”

Mr Mac Cionnaith said that three months ago during the race riots, ethnic minority families who were being burnt out of their homes in Portadown found safety on the Garvaghy Road. 

Talking about attempts to march on the Garvaghy Road this week, he said: “We’re resolute and we’re waiting for some sort of decision coming probably within the next 24 hours. What that decision will be I don’t know but I know one thing: There’s only one decision that will be acceptable to the men, women and children in this community. And that is that there should be no Orange march – none at all.”

Mr Mac Cionnaith said that in recent days one of the people he had spoken with was the widow of Michael McGoldrick. Mr McGoldrick was a 31-year-old Catholic taxi driver who was murdered by the UVF in July 1996 during the height of that year's Drumcree tensions.

He said: "She hasn’t spoken publicly ever about the murder of Michael. She chose to raise her son away from all of this. But she came to visit the community centre the other day and when her and me spoke she said she had kept her silence for all those years and now she thought she had to speak.
 
“And her message was simple: There should be no Orange march along Garvaghy Road.”