Northern Ireland’s Sinn Fein faces police probe as protest tensions fester
Opposition unionists call for the prosecution of Sinn Fein lawmakers who participated in the protest.
Northern Irish police have contacted representatives of Sinn Fein in an investigation into a protest that blocked a Protestant parade from marching through a Catholic area, the party said.
In a statement posted to Facebook on Thursday, Sinn Fein confirmed “that a number of its representatives and party members received correspondence” from police.
It added they have “stood with residents of the Garvaghy Road for the last two weeks in the face of provocation and the threat of an unwanted Orange march through their community”.
Northern Ireland’s High Court permitted the Protestant Orange Order to march on the Catholic Garvaghy Road for the first time in 28 years.
Sinn Fein First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald participated in the protests.
“A political title is not a shield, and no one is above the law,” the party said in a statement on Thursday.
The standoff has become a political crisis in Northern Ireland, affecting the region’s power-sharing government.
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- Opposition unionists call for the prosecution of Sinn Fein lawmakers who participated in the protest.
- Northern Irish police have contacted representatives of Sinn Fein in an investigation into a protest that blocked a Protestant parade from marching through a Catholic area, the party said.
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- In a statement posted to Facebook on Thursday, Sinn Fein confirmed “that a number of its representatives and party members received correspondence” from police.