Sinn Féin will will co-operate with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) over any potential investigation into the protest on the Garvaghy Road, the party president has said.

Protesters have remained on the Garvaghy Road since Sunday 27 September as the fallout over the proposed Portadown District Orange Lodge march continues, and rallies on both sides of the dispute were held on Saturday.

Mary Lou McDonald has said that "there's no question with us co-operating with any process that will unfold".

McDonald and Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill are among those who have attended the protest, which police have described as unnotified and "therefore illegal".

The Portadown District has maintained a presence at Drumcree Church after talks to end the parading dispute ended without agreement on Thursday.

The PSNI said that anyone "found to have broken the law will face criminal justice consequences".

However, speaking on the BBC's Sunday Politics programme, McDonald said: "There are moments in politically life where you have to take a stand, and this is one of those moments."

When asked about the legality of the protest she said: "Others will determine whether or not that is in fact the case."

The Parades Commission's decided that the parade - which is opposed by residents of the Garvaghy Road - could go ahead on Sunday 27 September with restrictions.

"We have found ourselves landed in this situation by an utterly reckless determination by the Parades Commission," McDonald said.

She said there was a "broad crowd politically and otherwise" at the rally on Saturday, adding that it was "resolute but good humoured with a real eye for the future".

"I cannot fathom anybody suggesting that 28 years on when progress has been made in such significant ways, not least in Portadown and in the wider Garvaghy community, why it is that anybody would seek to reopen that wound."

McDonald said that this "comes down to right and wrong".

She said as people who care passionately about the future, her and Michelle O'Neill know that for "that to happen we have to stand four square with the community of the Garvaghy Road".

A fresh legal bid by the residents to prevent the march was due to be heard on Friday - but has now been postponed until Monday.

Speaking to BBC News NI at Drumcree on Saturday, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP Lockhart said there could be "repercussions for a very long time if mob rule wins over the rule of law".

"No, we need the police service to step up and do their job. I do think if the real residents step forward we can and should discuss further options and resolutions, because we do want to see this resolved," Lockhart said.

Drumcree was one of Northern Ireland's most serious parading disputes, when stand-offs 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.

In 1998, the newly-established Parades Commission ruled that the Orange Order should not march down the road - a decision that was upheld for the past 28 years.

The row re-emerged last month after a court case in which a ruling by the Parades Commission was overturned, and a fresh application to parade was lodged.

Last Friday, the commission decided that the march could go ahead with restrictions in place.

However, that decision was challenged in several Belfast courts on Saturday, before finally being given the go-ahead just hours before it was due to take place.