Banbridge had been "repaid" for the Government's decision to release republican prisoners from Portlaoise jail on Friday, according to a young man who surveyed the devastation left behind by Saturday's car-bomb explosion in the town.
"There is no peace process. How can there be a peace process when this has happened and people are still being shot and injured? People are really angry with all these prisoners being released. They let six out in the Republic yesterday and this is how they repay you like," he said.
Builders cleared rubble and debris from the area yesterday while shopkeepers nailed plywood over broken windows. A number of shops in Newry Street sustained the full impact of the explosion. Yesterday they lay in ruins.
One trader, who was unaffected by the blast, said he feared that some local businesses would not re-open.
"Banbridge is a small town and many of the local traders have already been hit hard by the out-of-town shopping stores. This explosion may be the final nail in the coffin for them."
Amid the rubble, assessors and traders went about the business of estimating the cost of the damage. Shocked people stood at either side of the police cordons which blocked access to the area affected by the bomb.
Dozens of people were still being evacuated from Newry Street when the bomb exploded, injuring 33 people. SDLP councillor Mr Mel Byrne, who was shopping with his wife and two of his children, said: "It was such a lovely sunny day and then the bomb went off. There was utter panic. I saw glass and debris from the bomb shower people. A man beside me was blown off his feet by the blast."
Mr Byrne said he was surprised that no one had been killed in the explosion, which left six shops extensively damaged and a further seven badly affected.
Banbridge is perceived as a unionist town but it is mixed, he said. "Shrapnel from the bomb blast didn't ask any one their religion. Bombs don't discriminate," he added. Other eyewitnesses recalled the moment the explosion went off, saying it sounded like a blast of thunder.
For Kerry Devlin (17), the bomb has increased her desire to leave Northern Ireland. "My fiance and I had talked about moving to England just before the bomb went off on Saturday. After the explosion we have been giving it much more thought. I don't think there will ever be peace in Northern Ireland, to tell you the truth. The explosion has knocked the heart out of Banbridge."
One elderly lady, apparently unconcerned, by-passed the police cordons to put some letters in a postbox.
But while the video store, some fast food outlets and public houses were open for business last night there was clearly a sombre mood among those who had come to survey the scene.