Portadown, Northern Ireland – When the summer holidays arrived, Chris Nelson worried about his mother.
asserted
Nelson → arrive → mother
At night, he lay awake waiting for her to return.
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her → lie → night
During the day, he rang family members to ask if she was safe.
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she → ring → members
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Guard → go → waters
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scandal → inject → race
“I was afraid to leave the house,” he told Al Jazeera.
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he → leave → Jazeera
His mother, Rosemary Nelson, was a lawyer representing the Catholic residents opposing the Protestant Orange Order parade along Portadown’s Garvaghy Road in Northern Ireland in the late 1990s.
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mother → represent → 1990s
Every July, as marching season approached, there was a standoff.
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season → approach → ?
Orangemen sought to return from Drumcree church along what they regarded as their traditional route.
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they → seek → route
Residents opposed the passage of the anti-Catholic organisation through a majority Catholic street.
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Residents → oppose → street
In some years, police forced the parade through.
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police → force → parade
In later years, it was blocked.
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it → block → years
Rosemary would spend summer evenings alongside the residents on Garvaghy Road.
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Rosemary → spend → Road
Before leaving home each evening, she told her son that she was going to look after families and make sure their children were okay.
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children → leave → families
She compared them to his friends at primary school.
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She → compare → school
“She was a big believer in helping the underdog,” said Chris, now 39.
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Chris → help → underdog
“She did a lot of work for free.”
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She → do → work
His mother helped people from both sides of the community.
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mother → help → community
When work allowed, the family went to Bundoran, across the border, and for a day the fear would pass.
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fear → allow → day
But one night, during a standoff in 1997 when the state police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), used batons to clear Catholic locals from the road, “she was beaten by the police”, said Chris.
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Chris → use → police
“She was spat on”, bruised and bloodied.
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She → spit → ?
I was always thinking something was going to happen to my mum.”
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something → think → mum
On a Monday in March 1999, nearly a year after the Good Friday Agreement brought an end to the conflict, Rosemary drove away from her home in Lurgan.
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Rosemary → bring → Lurgan
As she braked at a nearby junction, a bomb beneath her car exploded.
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bomb → brake → car
Her eight-year-old daughter, Sarah, was at primary school nearby and heard the blast.
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daughter → hear → blast
The family had spent the previous weekend in Bundoran together.
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family → spend → Bundoran
Chris, 11 at the time, and his older brother were away on a school ski trip when they received a phone call with the news of her death.
“That was hard”, he said, his voice tailing off.
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voice → receive → death
A legacy of loss
Nearly three decades later, another standoff has recast these childhood memories into fears for the next generation, with a renewed attempt by the Protestant Orange Order to march through the Catholic neighbourhood, threatening to unravel a fragile peace.
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standoff → recast → peace
The Troubles began in the late 1960s as protests by Catholics against discrimination were met by repression and violence.
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protests → begin → repression
Republican paramilitaries fought for a united Ireland as loyalists and the army battled to preserve British rule, in a conflict that killed more than 3,500 people.
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that → fight → people
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement established a framework for peace and power-sharing.
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Agreement → establish → peace
Under the agreement, the people of Portadown have lived in relative peace for the past 28 years.
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people → live → years
But this was suddenly unsettled by a last-minute decision by the High Court to allow the march.
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this → unsettle → march
In response, Catholic residents blocked the road.
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residents → block → road
Many camped out as Orange men gathered at the top of the road, awaiting police permission to pass – an image of division that never truly left.
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that → camp → division
Many of the Garvaghy Road residents are now parents, and fear what their children might inherit from a dispute they hoped had been left behind.
uncertain
they → fear → dispute
Paul O’Connor, of the Pat Finucane Centre human rights group in Northern Ireland, said Rosemary Nelson is among 21 people whose deaths were linked to the Drumcree dispute.
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deaths → say → dispute
Many are still being investigated, with families continuing to seek justice and pressing for public inquiries amid concerns about collusion between the British state and loyalist paramilitaries, many of which were members of the Orange Order.
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many → investigate → Order
“These murders encompass LVF (Loyal Volunteer Force) killings at that time, and are all linked to the Drumcree disputes.
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murders → encompass → disputes
They were trying to destabilise the peace process, with many riots spreading around, including into Derry,” O’Connor told Al Jazeera.
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O’Connor → try → Jazeera
…and 60 more, not listed.
The Aporia
