Tense standoff over loyalist march in Portadown as protesters block route

Sinn Féin leaders join those on streets opposing decision to allow Garvaghy Road parade for first time since 1998

• Portadown march: latest updates

Hundreds of protesters spent the day blocking the route of a hugely contentious parade in Northern Ireland after a court gave late-night clearance for the Orange Order to march on a historically significant road for the first time in nearly 30 years.

The loyalist Drumcree parade along the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown was given the go-ahead by the Parades Commission for the first time since 1998, a decision denounced by Sinn Féin as “madness”.