A fracas developed as a Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition spokesman, Mr Breandan Mac Cionnaith, attempted to deliver a letter of protest to the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, during his visit to Craigavon, Co Armagh, yesterday.
Mr Mac Cionnaith, who was elected to Craigavon Borough Council last May, had been invited to a buffet lunch. However, Mr Blair's walkabout with councillors was cancelled, according to the Northern Ireland Office, because he was running late.
As Mr Blair was leaving the Civic Centre, Mr Mac Cionnaith attempted to hand over the protest letter. A melee developed and Mr Mac Cionnaith shouted: "Prime Minister, I would like you to take that letter. . .this is a letter concerning events on the Garvaghy Road this year. Your security men are again using the same tactics employed on the Garvaghy Road this year."
As Mr Mac Cionnaith was wrestled back by a RUC officer he shouted to the police: "You did enough on the Garvaghy Road this year, do you want to do it again? Do it again and let the cameras see what you did on the Garvaghy Road this year. Demonstrate it again."
Mr Mac Cionnaith said he was "not surprised" at what happened. "Since July the British government have tried to brush under the carpet everything that happened in Portadown on July 6th and we've just seen the same tactics being employed by the RUC, even against the press, that they employed on the Garvaghy Road."
He said: "The letter highlights the injustices of what went on on the Garvaghy Road this year. It expressed the lack of confidence which the nationalist community in Portadown has in the Secretary of State and the Parades Commission.
"It calls for a complete independent inquiry into all the events surrounding the Drumcree march this year."
During his speech to councillors and representatives of Craigavon District Partnership, an umbrella group for business, community and voluntary groups, Mr Blair said the choice for Northern Ireland was very "stark and simple".
"We can either seize the opportunity to forge a new future for ourselves or we can go back to the old despair and the old hatreds of the past," he said.
"Of course there is deep pain as a result of what has happened and people must feel an intense series of conflicting emotions.
"We meet just a short distance away from that appalling brutal murder of those two police officers just a short time ago. We do have to look at the right way to commemorate the lives of those, the victims of violence over this past period of time and we will do so."
Mr Blair talked of how he had spoken to children from both sides of the community.
"I feel such a sense of responsibility to them, to give them the decent future in which they grow up with the same hopes and aspirations as anyone everywhere else in the United Kingdom."
Mr Blair said: "I think we would be really foolish, given the history, to be exuberantly optimistic but at least there are some grounds for optimism and let's nurture that and let's be thankful that it's happening."
The UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, referring to the British Prime Minister's handshake with Sinn Fein president Mr Gerry Adams, said he felt "rather sorry for him".
"It is not something we would do ourselves and certainly I would have no intention, as things stand at the moment, of shaking the hand of someone who is inextricably linked to a terrorist organisation that has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of people throughout the United Kingdom and in particular of hundreds of people who served in the army, UDR, RIR and RUC."
Mr Trimble said it was "appropriate" that the Prime Minister should voice his desire for a commemoration to mark the sacrifice of people for the community.