First Drumcree parade on Garvaghy Road since 1998 sparks standoff in Portadown

A court cleared the Orange Order's Drumcree parade to march along the nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown for the first time since 1998, prompting hundreds of protesters to block the route. Sinn Féin leaders joined the opposition, denouncing the Parades Commission decision as 'madness'. The standoff revives a historically volatile flashpoint in Northern Ireland's communal tensions, with the potential for violence if the parade proceeds.