Tensions run high in Northern Ireland after contentious march given go-ahead

LONDON — British Prime Minister Andy Burnham called for calm in Northern Ireland on Sunday after a contentious parade was given the go-ahead by the High Court in Belfast in a late-night sitting.

Thousands of protesters, many wearing balaclavas, gathered to block the marchers from the Orange Order, a group hugely supportive of Northern Ireland being part of the U.K., from proceeding down a street in the town of Portadown, where many favor unification with the Republic of Ireland.

It’s the first time in nearly 30 years that the Orange Order parade has been allowed to go down the Garvaghy Road, which had been a notorious flashpoint between the communities in the years before the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 largely ended the bloodshed in Northern Ireland. During the so-called Troubles, some 3,600 people were killed while some 50,000 were wounded.

Ending the Troubles meant balancing competing identities in Northern Ireland, which remained in the United Kingdom when the rest of Ireland won independence a century ago. Irish nationalists in the north — most of them Catholic — seek union with the Republic of Ireland, while largely Protestant unionists want to stay part of the U.K.

Burnham appealed for