Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant has been accused of “disgraceful appeasement” after he stepped in to stop an Orange Order parade route.
DUP leader Gavin Robinson called for more information about the decision to be made public, questioning whether there had been a “bending of the knee of the rule of law in the threat of terror and violence”.
DUP Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart said it “cannot be business as usual” politically after First Minister and Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill received a letter from police asking her to attend a voluntary interview about protests on the Garvaghy Road against the parade.
She said her party “should use whatever is in our armoury to ensure that Michelle O’Neill is dealt with in the appropriate way”, adding it has “within its gift to remove” her as First Minister.
However Mr Robinson indicated he is not minded to bring down Stormont, questioning whether it would make anything better and adding he would not want to hand the reins to Sir Chris.
A legal challenge will be heard on Monday to Sir Chris’s decision to act following a decision by the Parades Commission to allow the Drumcree parade to go along the Garvaghy Road for the first time in almost 30 years.
It sparked a reawakening of the former flashpoint with large crowds opposed to the parade gathering on the Garvaghy Road which effectively prevented the parade from taking place.
Police are undertaking a large-scale criminal investigation into potential breaches of the law during the 12-day stand-off.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill is one of a number of Sinn Féin members, as well as People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll, who have received a letter from police inviting them to attend a voluntary interview as part of that probe.
Monday will also see the issuing of a judgment in the Court of Appeal in Belfast following a legal challenge of the Parades Commission decision.
Sir Chris has described his intervention as being in the best interests of peace and that he had received advice from the PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher that allowing the parade to go ahead could lead to serious injury, disorder and wider unrest.
Mr Robinson claimed Sir Chris used powers extraordinarily which were never used during some of the worst days of the Troubles.
“What we saw on Friday disgracefully was the appeasement to threats of violence and disorder, appeasement in the face of threats of terror,” he told BBC Northern Ireland’s Sunday Politics programme.
“There are profound consequences for society.
“I think the chief constable needs to be very open with the people of Northern Ireland, what was the threat of terror? What was the threat that he perceived and that he indicated to the Secretary of State?
“An extraordinary set of circumstances, powers used that have never been used before, and that will be opened in the courts, but were dissident republicans threatening violence? Did he have intelligence that firearms had been brought to that area? Are we seeing a bending of the knee of the rule of law in the threat of terror and violence?
“Those are serious and significant questions.”
Mr Robinson also said he believes that Sinn Féin has “given up on devolution” and are “goading unionists into taking action” in terms of collapsing power-sharing government at Stormont.
But he said the question is whether that would make the situation better.
“Leadership isn’t about taking the easy choice; it’s about taking the right choice,” he said.
“Does collapsing Stormont bring the Orange men home, what happens the next day … if we are seriously and rightly angry about the decision the Secretary of State has taken, who in their right mind would ask him to govern Northern Ireland? I certainly wouldn’t.”
Sinn Féin MLA John O’Dowd said the Garvaghy Road residents responded in a peaceful way to the prospect of the parade.
“The residents have faced an awful four weeks since this application was lodged on attempts by people who are opposed to the Good Friday Agreement, who are opposed to reconciliation, who are opposed to moving forward, attempting to drive an unwanted march down the road, and the community responded in a peaceful, democratic way to that decision,” he said.
“I don’t think that continued demonisation and attempt to criminalise the community of the Garvaghy Road is an appropriate way forward. What we need in Portadown is reconciliation.”
Mr O’Dowd also said he had received a letter from police in terms of their investigation after being in the Garvaghy Road area himself.
He stood over his actions saying: “I think it was the right thing to do.
“I got into politics to stand against the intimidation of communities such as the Garvaghy Road, who went through hell and high water over many, many years.
“I stood with the people of the Garvaghy Road. I will continue to stand with the people of Garvaghy Road because it was the right thing to do, and it was in defence of the Good Friday Agreement and the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement.”
Mr O’Dowd also contended there are “many within the unionist community who were opposed to what was going on at Drumcree Hill”.
“There were over 1,000 members of the Protestant community signed a letter urging the Orange men not to march down the road,” he said.
“There was deep concern within elements of the unionist community about what was going on, and the Orange Order does not represent the unionist community. They are an important part of the unionist community, but they are not the unionist community.”
Meanwhile, TUV leader Jim Allister accused the “lamentable chief constable” and “pathetic Secretary of State” of “surrendering to the mob”.
“Mob rule won over the rule of law, and that’s the fundamental here, and that’s the takeaway from this for the future. That if you want to prevail, then you resort to violence,” he said.
“This morning, two weeks ago, before the mob were organised, he (the chief constable) could have sanitised the Garvaghy Road and escorted those 35 men who threatened no-one down that road, but instead he let the mob take control.”
He also criticised Mr Robinson of “being prepared to sustain in office a law breaker”.
However, he commended Ms Lockhart as having “behaved with great honour and great strength”, and “sadly has not had the backing of her party leadership”.
“She is someone of the calibre and strength and principle that, of course, I’d be proud to have in the TUV, but Carla will make her decisions… she’s been badly let down. That’s obvious,” he added.
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