Sinn Féin and the SDLP marked what should have been Assembly election day yesterday with a series of protests against Mr Tony Blair's decision not to go ahead with the poll.
The Merrion Road in Dublin near the British embassy was blocked last night by a demonstration which caused long traffic tailbacks.
Earlier in the North, Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Mark Durkan were vociferous in their criticism of the British Prime Minister and warned of the dangers of political drift.
Mr Adams said the cancellation has created a dangerous political vacuum which anti-agreement elements would attempt to fill.
He said the peace process could drift out of control if the British government did not urgently call elections.
The Sinn Féin president was leading a party delegation to Stormont, where he handed in a letter of protest to the offices of the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, at Castle Buildings.
He voiced concern about repercussions for the political process if elections were not held by the autumn. "We will have had a totally unanchored process," he said.
"The British government has cancelled what was an experimental and highly innovative democratic process. Our position is that the elections should go ahead as quickly as possible."
He criticised Mr Blair for travelling to Iraq in an attempt to bring about democracy while denying the rights of people in Northern Ireland. "Mr Blair has to reflect on his decision to sideline the Taoiseach and all the political parties with the exception of one political leader.
"That is bad enough. But to sideline the people at a time when the entire process has been about trying to make politics work is an absolute disgrace. We are now in a democracy-free zone."
Mr Adams said the Assembly derived from the Belfast Agreement.
"That agreement was endorsed by the Irish people. This democratic decision of the electorate must have primacy. The British government has no right to override this democratic authority. The British government has no right to cancel elections in Ireland. How does cancelling democratic elections demonstrate, in any way, that politics works?"
The SDLP hosted a mock election at a forum to which speakers from business, charitable bodies and other NGOs were invited.
Mr Durkan said the aim of the event was to give a voice to those disenfranchised by the decision not to hold elections as planned.
"Tony Blair may have been able to prevent us from making our votes count today but he isn't going to prevent us from making our voices heard," he said.
He continued: "The time has come to get on with implementing the agreement properly. Pulling together to draw community forward to a compassionate society, to pull employment forward with a competitive economy and to pull public services forward with badly needed and well-targeted investment.
"Instead we have the tug of war where problem-posing parties pull against each other in ways that only tether us all to the contention and tension of the past."
Mr Durkan accused the British government of making no serious attempt to revive the political process following the decision to postpone.
"He [Mr Blair] took a decision to postpone elections and has made no political effort since. There has been no political effort coming from the British government I think that is very dangerous and it's irresponsible."
He was also critical of the decision to hold another Ulster Unionist Council meeting, which he said was further evidence of the UUP revealing its divisions.
The Women's Coalition also called for elections and demanded that other parties end their "blame game" over the cancelled Assembly elections.