Northern Ireland leader accused of joining ‘mob’ to block Protestant parade

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — The leaders of Northern Ireland’s cross-community government traded bitter accusations Monday over the rights and wrongs of a long-banned Protestant parade — a sectarian dispute that threatens to smash their fragile coalition . Only two years ago, the Irish Catholics of Sinn Féin and the British Protestants of the Democratic Unionist Party revived their coalition government, an alliance of enemies at the heart of Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace accord. Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Féin became first minister, and Emma Little-Pengelly of the Democratic Unionists deputy first minister, in a system that can survive only if these sectarian rivals work together .