Sinn Féin will co-operate with PSNI over Drumcree protest, says Mary Lou McDonald

Sinn Féin will co-operate with any police investigation into the ongoing protest on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown, party president Mary Lou McDonald has said.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has described the sit-in protest as unnotified and therefore illegal, warning that anyone found to have broken the law will face criminal consequences. Both McDonald and Northern Ireland's First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, are among those who have joined the demonstration over the past week.

Speaking on Sunday, McDonald insisted there was "no question" of the party refusing to co-operate with any subsequent police inquiry. "There are moments in political life where you have to take a stand, and this is one of those moments," she said.

The legal dispute at Drumcree

The dispute was reignited when the Parades Commission decided last month that a Portadown District Orange Lodge march could proceed down the nationalist Garvaghy Road with restrictions. It was the first time the march had been approved along that route in 28 years, following decades of standoffs and violence at Drumcree.

Unionist politicians have strongly criticised the participation of senior Sinn Féin leaders in the counter-protest. Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly of the DUP called the behaviour of O'Neill and her party "disgraceful" and a "complete abdication of leadership." DUP MP Carla Lockhart warned of long-term repercussions if "mob rule wins over the rule of law."

McDonald rejected claims by DUP leader Gavin Robinson that Sinn Féin was trying to provoke unionists into collapsing the Stormont power-sharing executive. Instead, she described the Parades Commission's decision to allow the march as "utterly reckless", adding that Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin agreed with her that the determination was "incomprehensible and wrong."

Meanwhile, Portadown District Master Nigel Dawson said the Orange Order had tried to complete their march 15 times over the week, only to be blocked because the PSNI said they could not guarantee safe passage. "We continue to be here waiting for the Chief Constable to apply the law to a lawful determination," Dawson said.