NATIONALIST politicians reacted angrily last night to the attempt by the Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, in the House of Commons, to defend his government's policy and the RUC action at Garvaghy Road in Portadown last Thursday.
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, described Sir Patrick's statement as "totally inadequate and pathetic". He said: "For him to pretend that nothing went wrong last week, or that it's down to some sort of review, is absolutely pathetic.
"There needs to be a total review of this entire (peace) process, because it's dead and needs to be rebuilt. And it won't be rebuilt on the type of response Sir Patrick made this afternoon."
Mr Alex Attwood of the SDLP said Sir Patrick had failed to acknowledge the deep hurt that existed within the Northern Ireland nationalist community over the conduct of the police.
His explanation had been inadequate "because it failed to deal with the immediate marching problems and the broader political problems".
The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, said: "Traditional parades must be given a special place in this land, and there must be a safeguard to that."
However, the RUC deputy Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, in a BBC interview, said that the incidents at Drumcree were "quite disgraceful" and must not be allowed to recur.
He admitted that there was a tremendous rebuilding job to be done on relations between the police and the nationalist community.
On the BBC television programme, Panorama, the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Annesley, last night again strongly denied that his operational decisions concerning Drumcree had been influenced by political interference.
However, he said, there were many people who should have taken steps since last year to address the problem of controversial parades and who had not done so.
Meanwhile, as the repercussions of the Enniskillen hotel explosion for security, tourism and the Northern economy were assessed, it was announced that Sir Patrick will meet political party leaders over the next few days.
Senator George Mitchell, the independent chairman of the peace talks, arrives back in the North today for the resumption of the talks this morning at Castle Buildings, Stormont.
Unionists, who withdrew from the talks pending a resolution of the Drumcree crisis, will attend the resumed session, but the DUP yesterday warned that the SDLP could "scupper" the talks if it carries out its decision to leave the elected Forum.
Dr Paisley is to demand from the Northern Secretary that he should insist on SDLP participation in the Forum. "They cannot pull out from the Forum and continue in the talks. They are either in all of the process or not in it at all," he said.