Garvaghy Road won’t go back
By Aamor Crofts
Early in the morning of Saturday twenty six September, a Belfast court ruled that the Orange Order could march through the nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown for the first time since 1997. The march became notorious in the 1990s due to its association with unionist triumphalism, rival unionist leaders Ian Paisley and David Trimble infamously holding hands as a gesture of unity at one march, as well as murder. The violence following the 1998 march led to the killing of three Catholic children from the Quinn family in Ballymoney, Co Antrim.
Following the high court ruling, the Garvaghy Road community stood on the road until the early hours of the morning to block the route, which remains ongoing. The following is an account of the situation in the community, written by a local resident last Tuesday (29 September 2026).
The people on and around this road have been held to ransom, schools were closed yesterday. People missed or left work.
Not just that, the threat of the Orange Order’s march also disrupted lives of those all across Ireland, particularly in the north, who have to now live with inflamed tensions, or who have dropped everything to be here in the blink of an eye. This threat has not gone away, people across the whole island continue to remain on standby for call outs.
I’m so proud, of my family, of my neighbours, of my community, of every single person who responded to any call out, took orders from the community with no question. For two days we had a PSNI announcement blasted at us: “protesting on this road is an offence which can lead to arrest and prosecution”, the couple of thousand people who linked arms with us on the road - all stood with courage, understanding they risked being dragged, beaten off and arrested, risked their jobs and their safety.
My house has been one of the many homes that opened its doors to anyone needing food, rest or shelter. I’ve had to queue for my own bathroom more times than I can count, politicians napping on my sofas, and met the most amazing people from across Ireland. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone who came to support us on our road. The older generations here remember a time when it was only the residents that stood against the British police and the Orange Order, we’ve never had this support here. We’ve shown that the Orange Order, Unionism as a whole - is not dragging us back to the past. Whether they want to admit it or not, the people of Ireland are united, we don’t need a border poll to show us that. Differing political parties, conflicting organisations, Protestants, Catholics, our neighbours who have recently migrated to the area, and everyone in between, were all united on the Garvaghy Road. We are united in more ways than we give ourselves credit for, decent, hardworking people in our community here, and across the island - want to continue the progress we’ve made, and continue on with our lives.
Thank you to everyone who’s listened to us seriously and understood what was at risk. We’ve trusted the police before, we’ve trusted mediators before and each time we’ve been let down, the people here have then paid the price, often in blood. The only reason we were not beaten off of the road, is simply because there were too many of us. We could not have done that without each and every person who came. Thousands of people I’ll never know the names of, but who I’ll never forget. We feel protected, and know if we need you all again, you’ll be back with even more!
We’ve seen music, mobilisation and definitely some mania with the lack of sleep had! And while we came together, much was sacrificed. Real lives have been disrupted, real trauma dug back up.
Me and my mum are carers for my sister who has many complex disabilities, it was her birthday on Saturday. We’ve put our lives on hold this weekend for emergency mobilisations, to feed and house people. My sister has epilepsy, my mum had to sit with her having seizures while people were queuing out of the door to use our bathroom.
My gran did not sleep for 48 hours, and would not stay at her own house. She couldn’t rest knowing the police might try to physically drag the residents and supporters off of our road at any moment. Traumatised from growing up under British armed forces murdering family and friends, she only moved home to Ireland three years ago, because it was now “safe” and “all in the past”.
My cousin just started university this September, and has had to travel back and forth, worried for his Mum’s and the rest of our family’s safety. This should be the time he starts to define who he is as an adult, not link arms with his mother to make sure he was dragged off the road with her if we were moved.
My neighbour is in her 70s, she also couldn’t sleep or stay at her daughter’s house, too worried about what might happen, and had a panic attack. Yesterday, she stayed up at the community centre making stew for everyone.
Four stories of the past weekend, only four. Unfair is the lightest word I can think of to describe the last few days, how dare ANYONE stop our children from getting an education, how dare anyone keep a community alert and awake for days on end. This is without even mentioning the multiple week build up to this weekend, constantly staying alert to hear OTHER PEOPLE decide what our community should be subjected to: psychological warfare.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh to every single People Before Profit member, CATU member and more who looked after me and my family, linked arms with us in solidarity, and showed the upmost respect, compassion and politeness to me and mine. Youse litter picked, provided emotional and physical support, listened to the stories of my family and wider community, and didn’t hesitate the second the community called for mobilisation. Youse reported on the ground updates with urgency and decency, and I’m very proud to be a part of the future being built by grassroots activists, politicians and people power in Ireland.
The most inspiring people are the volunteers of Drumcree Community Centre - Linda O’ Neill may go down in history as one of the most powerful women of Portadown. Me, the rest of my family, and I’d guarantee the whole community, are so incredibly in awe of her and the rest of the Drumcree centre volunteers. I wish there were words to sum up how brilliant these people are, or accurately describe how they’ve protected our community. But I’m especially honoured to watch the women who have come before me, who are still fighting today, and will forever hold them in the highest esteem.
Lastly, I wonder if the Orange Order and the DUP will think it was worth it, in 10 years when they look back, will they think that forcing 35 supremacist bigots down a road was worth uniting Ireland. I wonder if they’ll look back and think that maybe they shouldn’t have given us a reason to gather people from the whole of Ireland, standing together against settler colonial oppression. We will have a united Ireland, for the people by the people, with a Fleadh again in Belfast, with bands from all communities, singing and dancing together.
It’s 4am on Tuesday as I write this, there’s some older ladies who’ve just walked home to get some sleep, in their 70s at least. There’s people coming in and out of the house still, grabbing food and charging phones. All watching the road, this is who we are. Having a wee cry to myself, emotionally and mentally exhausted while so proud, and that’s just from the last few days. Our people have fought British occupation for over 800 years. We will continue, but we’ve been through enough, lost enough lives, let us live in peace.
It’s not over yet, but from me and mine - thank you, go raibh maith agaibh and tiocfaidh ár lá. We’ll see you all next year for the Garvaghy Road Fleadh. But today, and every day after, they’ll be no marching down Garvaghy Road.