Donegal TD Pearse Doherty attends PSNI interview over Garvaghy Road
Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty TD attends PSNI interview in Belfast regarding Garvaghy Road protests participation
Sinn Féin and Donegal TD Pearse Doherty has said the days of the nationalist community in Northern Ireland being treated as “second-class citizens are over,” after voluntarily attending a PSNI interview regarding his attendance at the Garvaghy Road protests.
Doherty spoke to the press outside of a PSNI station in Belfast on October 29, after he attended the interview, alongside fellow Sinn Féin TD, Matt Carthy.
The PSNI interviewed Doherty in relation to his participation in a protest staged to prevent a controversial Orange Order parade proceeding down Garvaghy Road, a mostly nationalist area in Portadown, from the nearby Drumcree Church.
Doherty said: “I am here today attending an interview with the PSNI in relation to the peaceful protests that took place on the Garvaghy Road.
“I, and Sinn Féin are proud to have stood with the Garvaghy Road community and defending 28 years of peace and 28 years of progress.
“Standing up for what is right is always the right thing to do.
“The days of treating the nationalist community as second-class citizens are over. Sinn Féin is determined that we will not be dragged backwards by anybody.
“We believe that it is right to have taken this stand, and supported the peace processes that we have seen. We defend the progress that we have seen over the last number of years, and there is no going back. Not now, not ever.”