ISBN 1-900960-06-0

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Published July 1999


GARVAGHY:
A Community Under Seige
by

Garvaghy Residents

Since 1795, the Orange Order has been gathering 
at Drumcree Church and marching through Catholic 
areas of Portadown - 'the most bitter town in Ireland'. 
Over the last thirty years, the Obins Street/Tunnel area 
and the Garvaghy Road, have become world famous 
as the site of struggles against institutionalised sectarianism 
in the North of Ireland.

Every year since 1995, the residents have spent weeks hemmed in by Orange mobs and ringed by units of the British Army. Their sit-down protests have been brutally cleared by the RUC; their public representatives have been attacked and sent death threats; and finally, their lawyer, Rosemary Nelson, was murdered by a car bomb.

What is it like to live in the 'Orange citadel', not knowing where the violence will come from next, or when it will strike? What do you do when soldiers prevent you from walking to church? What hope is there of a job if you are from 'the road'? How do you deal with workmates or shopkeepers who refuse to talk to you? Or what do you say to sick and frightened children when you can't afford to send them out of the area?

This book is based on diaries kept by people of the Garvaghy area during July 1998 and contains many photographs of their protests over the years. They tell stories of fear and anxiety, of hope and loss, and of courage and community organisation. They reveal the real price of 'Orange feet on the Garvaghy Road'.

192pp + 32 pages of photographs 138 x 215mm
ISBN 1-900960-06-0 Price £8.99