Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill has said she will “co-operate” with a police investigation after she received a letter from the PSNI probing alleged criminal offences relating to her involvement in a protest against an Orange Order parade on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown.
Ms O’Neill said on Friday she has received a letter inviting her for a police interview in relation to the protest in Co Armagh.
“I will co-operate with the investigation,” she said in a statement.
“For the last two weeks, I have stood in solidarity with the Garvaghy Road residents as attempts were made to force an unwanted Orange march through their community.
“I will continue to stand with the Garvaghy Road residents who should be allowed to live in peace and free from sectarian intimidation.
“Because it is always right to stand up for what is right.
“And there can be no going back.”
Sinn Féin colleagues Conor Murphy, John O’Dowd and Gerry Kelly have also received contact from the PSNI.
It came after, during a visit to the Garvaghy Road, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald again called on Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant to act to bring the 13-day Drumcree stand-off to an end.
The PSNI said on Thursday that individuals “reasonably suspected of committing offences” would receive letters for interview.
It relates to alleged breaches of a Parades Commission decision to allow an Orange Order parade to complete its traditional route from Drumcree Church down the Garvaghy Road for the first time for almost 30 years.
The parade has been unable to take place because of significant numbers opposed to the decision attending protests on the Garvaghy Road.
Unionists have criticised the First Minister and other Sinn Féin ministers for having been in the area of the Garvaghy Road during the impasse.
Portadown deputy district master Alastair Power said there will be “serious consequences from the Unionist community” if the Secretary of State intervenes to stop the Orange Order.
“We have said to the Secretary of State from the start of this process that we are expecting him and the chief constable to do the right thing for the law-abiding people that is up here on this hill and allow the parade to go through,” he said.
Asked how he would react if Sir Chris did intervene and stop the Drumcree parade, Mr Power said: “Well, we will obviously not be very happy with that.
“It will be the first time a secretary of state has intervened on a lawful parade in over 30 years, and returning it. But we are law-abiding citizens, so we will have to abide by the law. But there will have to be serious consequences from the Unionist community on that.
“It just goes to show you that the law of rule wins. We have said from the start that we are a law-abiding organisation.
“We have abided by the law for the last 28 years, 52 Sundays of the year, and now that we have a positive determination, we’re told ‘just walk away from this place’, that’s not going to happen.”
Mr Power said he would not rule out further court action to challenge an intervention if it did happen.
“That’ll be up to the district and our legal team to see where we stand on that, but probably will be an option that we will use,” he added.
Ms O’Neill is facing a motion of no confidence when the Northern Ireland Assembly sits on Monday.
A number of senior Sinn Féin figures visited the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road again on Friday.
Ms O’Neill and Ms McDonald were accompanied by Mr Murphy, Mr O’Dowd, Stormont’s Finance Minister and Mr Kelly, who have all received correspondence.
Ms McDonald pointed out the length of the impasse and said Sir Chris must now take action to bring the crisis to an end.
She said: “It has been our expectation, it was our wish from the get-go, that the Secretary of State will intervene, and we’re calling on him again to do exactly that.
“No further time should be wasted, we need to bring clarity, we need to bring finality.
“It needs to be clear that this Orange march is now definitively off the table, so that this community can breathe easy again and return to their normal lives.
“The very idea of leaving a vacuum like this is irresponsible, to say the least of it.
“The Secretary of State has to intervene, must intervene, and we urge him again at the earliest opportunity to do exactly that.”
Meanwhile, loyalist activist Jamie Bryson accused nationalist politicians of being responsible for death threats made to him and DUP MP Carla Lockhart.
“I have received over 1,500 abusive calls, over 280 voicemail threats to kill, to murder me, my family, people around me, and things have just reached a level now where it’s totally unacceptable,” he said.
“It’s certainly my particular view that nationalist politicians are responsible for painting the target on my back. Every press conference that’s conducted by Sinn Féin or the SDLP, they are attributing this to me and essentially painting a target on my back, and that’s a very dangerous place, which nobody should be doing.
“I have to say to them, they need to think about what they’re doing and they need to take responsibility for what might flow from the target that they’re painting on my back.
“We seen (sic) last week that they called the mob in court, as did other people.
“We then seen (sic) what the mob did, and two people have already been arrested for threats to kill myself and Carla and others, so they’ve lost control of the mob now.
“We said all along we would sort this out within the courts. Nationalism has completely lost the run of itself. Nationalist politicians are painting a target on my back, on Carla’s back as well.
“And last night, threats to shoot Carla – a mother with children and a family – threatened to shoot her, threats to murder me. It has completely got out of all control, and I think that nationalist politicians in particular, now need to step back, think about the mob that they have unleashed, and call off their mob before somebody gets seriously hurt here.”
Mr Bryson said that anger is building within unionist and loyalist communities, but called for them not to take to the streets.
“The Portadown district has deliberately not called people onto the streets. What we are saying is, let the court sort this out as a legal question, or whatever other lawful process,” he said.
“We do not need mobs on the street. We do not need people being threatened, and I would appeal to the people from the unionist and loyalist community because I can feel and sense the anger starting to go in our community, and people are wanting to take to the streets and they’re getting angry.”
Ms Lockhart appealed to people – who she claimed are incited by politicians – to “step back” from making threats to her and Mr Bryson.
“It’s totally unacceptable the threat level and the abuse that has been hurled at both myself and Jamie (Bryson), more particularly yesterday afternoon, with his personal details having been released online,” she said.
“People can fight us on our politics and our policies, and they may not like what we say.
“I’ll take anyone on with regards to my politics and my policies but when it gets personal, and when you see and hear these threats online, all it takes is for one person to just seriously think ‘I really don’t like those people’, and I firmly believe it’s getting to that point.
“So I would call on everyone to think before they take to social media, think before they approach us in the street, and ensure that they do not incite hatred.”
Meanwhile, around 100 people staged a picket outside the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) in central Belfast.
They held placards and chanted “no going back” in both in English and Irish. Demonstrators also blew whistles continuously for 60 seconds.
Sinn Féin MLA Deirdre Hargey addressed the crowd on a loudhailer.
“We’re bringing a message directly to the NIO and the British Government that there is no going back,” she said.
“The British Secretary of State Chris Bryant has the power to ban this parade and today he must do the right thing and he must ban this parade.”
SDLP MP Colum Eastwood also visited the Garvaghy Road on Friday. He urged anyone who received letters from police “not to worry”.
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