A decision to allow the Protestant Orange Order to march through a predominantly Catholic neighborhood has renewed sectarian tension in Northern Ireland. The standoff in Portadown, County Armagh, about 25 miles southwest of Belfast, flared during the last weekend of September. At risk is a return to Troubles-era bloodshed and collapse of the power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Drumcree  conflict has its own Wikipedia page, which provides the necessary background. “Orangemen” have been prohibited from marching through the Catholic Garvaghy Road since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. In August, however, a court ruled the Northern Ireland Parades Commission had made procedural errors in reaching its decision. The Commission subsequently approved a scaled-down march of the Protestant group, but local Catholics turned out to block their path.

Talks between the Portadown Orange Order, the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition (GRRC), and Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant appeared far from resolving the disput as of late October 1. This is a developing story; the post will be updated as necessary.

This 1998 Boston Globe story reads as if it could be from this week’s news coverage from Portadown, Northern Ireland. So far the latest iteration of the conflict has avoided violence.