Britain steps in to stop contentious Protestant parade in Northern Ireland

Britains Northern Ireland minister on Friday overturned a decision by local authorities that granted a permit for a Protestant parade to pass through a Catholic area and triggered a two-week standoff that raised tensions in the region Northern Irelands Parades Commission last month allowed the Orange Order to march along the Garvaghy Road a Catholic area in the mainly Protestant town of Portadown for the first time since parades on the route were banned in 1998 Thousands of residents and protesters stopped the parade from taking place