Police in Northern Ireland have written to Sinn Féin representatives as part of an investigation into a protest that stopped an Orange Order parade on the Garvaghy Road. The party’s rival in government, the DUP, wants its leaders prosecuted.

Police in Northern Ireland have contacted representatives of Sinn Féin as part of an investigation into a protest that blocked a Protestant parade from marching through a Catholic area, the party said, according to Al Jazeera.

The dispute has grown into a political crisis for the region’s power-sharing government.

What the Party Said

In a statement posted on Facebook on Thursday, October 8, Sinn Féin confirmed “that a number of its representatives and party members received correspondence” from police.

“Sinn Fein will continue to stand with the Garvaghy Road residents who should be allowed to live in peace and free from sectarian intimidation,” it said.

The party said it had stood with residents “for the last two weeks in the face of provocation and the threat of an unwanted Orange march through their community”.

The March

The dispute began when Northern Ireland’s High Court permitted the Protestant Orange Order to march along the Catholic Garvaghy Road for the first time in 28 years.

Before the Good Friday Agreement, annual attempts by the Orange Order to march through the area triggered unrest across the region. The route was banned in 1998.

Police opened an investigation into what they called an unlawful protest against the march, and said people reasonably suspected of committing offences would receive letters inviting them for interview.

Leaders at the Protest

Those who took part in the protests included Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s First Minister, and Mary Lou McDonald, the president of Sinn Féin.

The DUP’s Demand

Sinn Féin leads the power-sharing government alongside its main pro-British rival, the Democratic Unionist Party. The DUP has called for O’Neill and other Sinn Féin lawmakers to be prosecuted.

“A political title is not a shield, and no one is above the law,” the DUP said in a statement on Thursday.

Why It Matters

Northern Ireland’s government depends on its two largest parties, representing the nationalist and unionist communities, working together. A police investigation touching the First Minister, with her partners in government calling for charges, puts that arrangement under direct strain.

Al Jazeera reports that the standoff has become a political crisis affecting the region’s power-sharing government.

Image: Parliament Buildings at Stormont, seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Photo by Gareth James via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.