Sinn Fein's president, Mr Gerry Adams, yesterday called on the British and Irish governments to back nationalist residents on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown in the controversy over the Orange Order's march at Drumcree.
In a strongly worded speech at the party's commemoration of the United Irish Rebellion, he said the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, "must do the right thing" and added that there was an onus on the Irish Government "to stand firmly with the residents of these beleaguered areas".
He also called on the SDLP to reconsider its voting arrangements for the Assembly elections on Thursday. Some senior SDLP leaders had made arrangements with the Ulster Unionist Party, he said. He believed it was wrong for the SDLP not to go into a pact with Sinn Fein.
"It is also wrong for nationalists to vote for the Ulster Unionist Party, or any party, until and unless that party stops trying to unpick the Good Friday Agreement as Mr Trimble tried to do a number of times."
On the marches issue, he insisted that the pressure "should not be put on the host communities". It was a British government "spin" that this issue was a test of Sinn Fein's commitment to the Belfast Agreement, he said. "This is nonsense. It is a test for the British government and for the leaders of unionism."
Mr Adams was referring to a report in The Irish Times on Saturday which said that Britain was putting pressure on the Government and on Sinn Fein to secure residents' agreement to allow the march to go down the Garvaghy Road.
If it was truly a new era "then until the people of Garvaghy Road say otherwise there can be no Orange march down Garvaghy Road. The British government must ensure this.
"The danger, of course, is that the British government will be more concerned to bolster David Trimble's position. During the referendum campaign Sinn Fein understood the need to do this," he said. "But there is a vast difference between working to get a Yes vote and pandering to the extremes of Orangeism.
"The issue on Garvaghy Road and these other communities is motivated on the part of Orangeism by their wish to dominate. That cannot be allowed to happen."
Calling on the Taoiseach to support nationalist residents, Mr Adams said: "The Government in Dublin is fully aware of the Sinn Fein position. Mr Blair must be told that there can be no repetition of the disgraceful scenes of recent years when the RUC and the British army hacked their way through peaceful protesters in order to clear a path for triumphalist processions."
Mr Trimble had to be shown by both governments, the SDLP as well as Sinn Fein, by church and business leaders "that he has to show positive leadership on this issue. The way to resolve problems is through dialogue. The way to reach an accommodation, if accommodation can be found on this issue, is through face-to-face negotiations on the basis of equality. If the Orangemen will not recognise, never mind uphold, the rights of their neighbours, then those in powerful and influential positions must do so."
He also told the hundreds of people at the commemoration that Sinn Fein had to become the party "of the people of no property throughout this island".
The Belfast Agreement marked the end of one phase of the struggle and the beginning of a new phase, he said, stressing the need for change.
