DUP leader Ian Paisley at an Independent Orange Order demonstration in Co Antrim has said it would be "over our dead bodies" that his party would enter into a powersharing Northern Executive with Sinn Féin.
As tens of thousands of Orangemen and band members and Orange supporters gathered at 18 fields after 18 parades throughout Northern Ireland yesterday afternoon, Dr Paisley delivered a Twelfth of July speech dismissive of the prospects for a return to devolved government.
Seventeen of the parades were organised by the Orange Order, which attempted to create an "Orangefest" festival theme around the parades, while Dr Paisley spoke at the additional annual parade of the Independent Orange Lodge in Portrush, Co Antrim, where he said Sinn Féin was not fit for government.
"No unionist who is a unionist will go into partnership with IRA-Sinn Féin. They are not fit to be in partnership with decent people. They are not fit to be in the government of Northern Ireland. And it will be over our dead bodies that they will ever get there," he said.
Dr Paisley spoke mainly of the Battle of the Somme but directed "no surrender" remarks at Sinn Féin. "Ulster has surely learned that weak, pushover unionism is a halfway house to republicanism. There is no discharge in this war," he said.
"Compromise, accommodation and the least surrender are the roads to final and irreversible disaster. There can be no compromise," he added.
Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy said: "Ian Paisley once again chose to appeal to the lowest common denominator within his own community, rather than step up and show political leadership for the first time in 40 years."
SDLP's senior negotiator Seán Farren said: "We know from hard and bitter experience not to look to Twelfth speeches for imaginative leadership or breadth of vision.
"But even by this sorry standard, Paisley's megaphone diplomacy is deeply damaging to the interests of all in the North."
The tone of the speech of DUP Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson to Orangemen at Broomhedge in Co Antrim was in sharp contrast to the thunderous nature of Dr Paisley's in Portrush.
Mr Donaldson said he was "hopeful" about the political future and that strategically the IRA has no alternative but to follow the political route.
Mr Donaldson said unionists must look forward as well as back. He said unionism was in a stronger position today than it has been in a generation and that he was hopeful about the political future.
"The threat of a united Ireland has receded off the agenda for our political lifetime and the debate has moved on to how we live as part of the United Kingdom. The days in which republicans are able to dominate this debate are over as well.
"Now it is unionism's demands that must be met," he said.
Mr Donaldson said the DUP would not be forced into accepting the "arbitrary, artificial deadline" of November 24th imposed by the British and Irish governments for a deal on devolution.
Grand Master of the Orange Order Robert Saulters speaking in Ballycastle, Co Antrim, accused the British government of "still pandering" to paramilitaries. He also said the Parades Commission was "doing the work of republicans in many places".
At the demonstration in Maguiresbridge, Co Fermanagh, retired Anglican Bishop Henry Richmond said the time was coming for the Orange Order to reach out to Catholics. He said there were more areas of agreement than disagreement between Catholics and Protestants. One Orangeman shouted that he was talking "rubbish".
