First minister has not received police letter over Garvaghy Road protests

First Minister Michelle O'Neill has said she has not yet received a letter from police investigating protests over the Drumcree parading dispute.

On Thursday, the police said they had begun issuing letters inviting people "reasonably suspected" of committing offences linked to the protests to interview.

Unionist politicians have called for action to be taken against O'Neill and other senior Sinn Féin politicians who took part in the protests against the Orange Order march down the Garvaghy Road at the end of last month.

O'Neill has previously defended her attendance, saying she was "proud to stand with the residents" and that "when the law is wrong, I will stand firmly against it".

Asked on Friday whether she expected to receive a letter from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the Sinn Féin vice-president said: "Of course I do."

She said that when she does, she "will respond accordingly".

A Sinn Féin spokesperson said on Thursday that "a number of representatives and party members have received correspondence from the PSNI" in relation to the issue, adding that "standing up for what is right is always the right thing to do".

O'Neill was speaking to reporters briefly in Belfast as she arrived for a visit to the offices of the Bank of America.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), arrived separately at the engagement.

Speaking to journalists outside, she welcomed developments in the PSNI investigation, adding that the letters were "absolutely the right thing".

"It doesn't matter whether you are an ordinary citizen or first minister of the country, you have to be subject equally under the law."

Little-Pengelly also defended her attendance at the business engagement, after the DUP previously said it could not be "business as usual" at Stormont in response to Sinn Féin's involvement in protests on Garvaghy Road.

She said she did not want to punish "the work we need to do in terms of growing our economy and investing in public services... just because of the deeply reckless behaviour of Michelle O'Neill and Sinn Féin".

Speaking to The Nolan Show earlier, DUP leader Gavin Robinson said he expected "to see sanctions" for those investigated by the police.

The police statement did not name anyone they planned to issue a letter to - but Sinn Féin MLA Deirdre Hargey said on Friday she had received one and would "make arrangements" for an interview with the police after speaking to lawyers.

People Before Profit (PBP) MLA Gerry Carroll has also said he has received a letter and would make his case to the police "robustly".

Speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme, Carroll defended the protests as "peaceful civil disobedience" and said he made "no apology" for "standing up and with the people of the Garvaghy Road".

After meeting residents on Friday, Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MP Colum Eastwood said anybody who gets a letter "should not be one bit worried".

"Political leaders are there to stand up for communities under threat - anybody who did it was doing the right thing," he added.

In a statement on Thursday evening, the Portadown District of the Orange Order said it welcomed the "initial limited steps" taken by the PSNI, adding it had written to the chief constable requesting he now takes "active steps to discharge his positive obligation to police the determination".

It is more than a week since the decision to allow an Orange Order march down the Garvaghy Road on Sunday, 27 September.

That morning, up to 1,000 people - including politicians such as O'Neill - blocked the road, preventing Orangemen marching from Drumcree Church a mile to the west.

Since then, residents have maintained a constant presence around the road while Orangemen have also repeatedly tried to march the route before being turned back by police.

The stand-off has caused considerable political fallout in Northern Ireland, with O'Neill facing a vote of no confidence over her involvement in the protest.

The vote is due to fail because it requires cross-community support at the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Drumcree was one of Northern Ireland's most serious parading disputes, when stand-offs in the mid-to-late 1990s over attempts by the Orange Order to march along the Garvaghy Road were accompanied by riots, roadblocks and killings.

When the Orange Order was prevented by police from walking down the route in July 1995, there was a tense stand-off. It was the same for the next three years.

The Parades Commission began operating in 1998 to regulate parades and try to defuse tension around marches.

Its decision not to allow a march down the Garvaghy Road that summer has been challenged by the order for the past three decades.

Earlier this year the Parades Commission decided that the march could go ahead with restrictions in place after its original decision to stop the march was overturned in court.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal is considering its ruling in a legal challenge brought by the residents to block the march going ahead.