The outcome led to a fresh application for a silent, limited parade at the end of this month.<\/p>\n
Since 1807, Orange Order members have walked through the Garvaghy Road on the return leg of their traditional parade from Drumcree Church on the last Sunday before the Twelfth.<\/p>\n
But changing demographics in the historically unionist Co Armagh town led to increasing tensions among nationalist residents during the 1990s.<\/p>\n
Protests escalated among those living on the Garvaghy Road who branded the marches sectarian and triumphalist.<\/p>\n
Disorder broke out in 1995 following a decision by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the North\u2019s police force at the time, to reroute the parade to prevent it from going down the Garvaghy Road.<\/p>\n
Despite a large sit-down protest by nationalists, it was allowed to go through.<\/p>\n
Over the next two summers, the violence intensified as loyalist rioting erupted across Northern Ireland when the marches were banned.<\/p>\n
U-turns were once again performed, which triggered nationalist riots.<\/p>\n
In 1996, the murder of Catholic taxi driver Michael McGoldick by loyalist paramilitaries in Lurgan, Co Armagh, took place during the Drumcree tensions.<\/p>\n
When the newly established Parades Commission imposed an official ban on the parade in 1998, it led to the most serious disorder in the dispute\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Thousands of loyalists travelled to Drumcree and an enormous ring of steel was erected by the army to seal off the route.<\/p>\n
There were days of civil unrest.<\/p>\n
Many nationalist residents spoke of being \u201cbarricaded\u201d into their homes by RUC Saracens; there was no chemist, only one grocery shop, and food convoys were sent from as far as Derry.<\/p>\n
On July 12th, 1998, one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles effectively ended the stand-off.<\/p>\n
Three Catholic children \u2013 Richard, Mark, and Jason Quinn \u2013 were murdered in a petrol bomb attack on their home in a predominantly Protestant housing estate in Ballymoney, Co Antrim.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GWFFW4P5W4D62JQQDY7CZOULAA.jpg\")
The Quinn brothers \u2013 Jason (8) front left; Mark (10) standing left; and Richard (11) standing right were killed when a petrol bomb was thrown into their home in Ballymoney. Only Lee (12), centre, survived. <\/p>\n
The killings took place just three months after the signing of the Belfast Agreement.<\/p>\n
Then US president Bill Clinton was among those to condemn the murders.<\/p>\n
The Orange Order\u2019s Co Armagh chaplain at the time, Rev William Bingham, called for the Drumcree protest to end: \u201cNo road is worth a life, let alone the lives of three little boys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since 1998, the Orange Order has reapplied to the commission which has repeatedly reissued the restrictions.<\/p>\n