Would you want a murderer looking after your children?
That was the question put to an audience of about 500 people at an anti-Belfast Agreement rally in the mainly Protestant town of Newtownards, Co Down, last night.
The crowd responded with a resounding "never" at the prospect of a former terrorist becoming minister of education in a future Northern Ireland assembly.
The question was posed by Mr John Bell, a former Ulster Unionist Party member and local councillor who said he had recently left the party because he could not canvass for a Yes vote to endorse a document which threatened the Union.
Mr Bell shared the stage in the Queen's Hall in the centre of the town with the deputy leader of the DUP, Mr Peter Robinson, Mr Cedric Wilson from the UK Unionist Party and - eventually - the leader of the DUP, the Rev Ian Paisley, who received a standing ovation when he arrived more than an hour late at the rally.
The speakers were applauded loudly as they denounced the agreement as a sell-out and the first step towards a united Ireland, and described the proposed early release of prisoners as "buying off" the IRA.
The audience booed and hissed when the names of the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, and the area's MP, Mr John Taylor, were mentioned.
Mr Robinson said the Belfast Agreement "inexorably advanced" Dublin's involvement in the North. Anyone who pretended that it loosened Dublin links had either failed to understand it or was involved in a "deliberate stratagem of deceit".
Mr Robinson showed a comprehensive selection of slides from an overhead projector in which he detailed his opposition to the Belfast Agreement. He said it would put Sinn Fein/IRA into a future cabinet as of right, and could give Mr Gerry Adams the power to close health facilities or schools.
Mr Wilson urged people to "go home to tell your neighbours and friends, those who are still wobbly, waverers or don't knows, that this is a fatal, final and deciding moment for our province".
Mrs Iris Robinson, a local DUP councillor, said the release of IRA prisoners for last weekend's Sinn Fein Ardfheis was only the tip of the iceberg and a Yes vote would sanction the wholesale release of murderers and bombers.
Dr Paisley described Dr Mo Mowlam as "an Arab with a turban" and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, as a "drink of water".
He said the reason he pulled out of a scheduled live face-to-face television debate with Mr Trimble was because it was "rigged" and he would not have been given the chance to make opening and closing speeches.
The crowd included people of all ages.
At the door, the United Unionists' gold heart-shaped No campaign badges were on sale for £5.
The two-hour rally opened with verses from Psalm 6. "It talks about being in trouble, and we are in trouble," said Mr St Clair McAllister, the DUP's press officer. A student from the local Regent House Grammar School, Mr Aran Ennis, said young unionists were "100 per cent" behind the No campaign.
Another United Unionist rally last night in Ballyclare, Co Antrim, was addressed by the leader of the UK Unionist Party, Mr Robert McCartney, Mr Nigel Dodds from the DUP and Mr Peter King, a member of the UUP's talks negotiating team.