Riot police and British soldiers shoved protesters off the street of a Catholic neighborhood Thursday, clearing the way for a disputed Protestant march that has brought havoc to Northern Ireland.
Since Sunday, police had barred Protestants from starting their annual march through the neighborhood to commemorate 17th century victories over Catholics. Protestant mobs retaliated with some of the worst rioting in a decade in the British-ruled province.The reversal came after a five-day deadlock in Portadown, 25 miles southwest of Belfast, between more than 1,000 police and crowds from the Orange Order, Northern Ireland's dominant Protestant fraternal group.
British troops began opening barricades at Drumcree's Anglican church, where thousands of marchers had gathered.
"They're gonna force the march through," Catholic protester leader Breandan MacCionnaith told furious locals through a bullhorn as armored police cars saturated the road.
The march started with about 1,300 grim Orangemen walking to the beat of a single drum down Garvaghy Road - the Catholic section of this predominantly Protestant town - signaling their victory in a war of wills with the British government and the province's overstretched police.
Catholic locals resisted, setting fires and tossing rocks and bottles. But police kept most at bay with volleys of plastic bullets, the ammunition they had been using against Protestant mobs all week.