The launch by Gerry Adams of a black ribbon campaign to highlight state collusion in murders during Northern Ireland's Troubles was today described as an insult to all victims.
Nationalist SDLP Assembly member Declan O'Loan lambasted the Sinn Fein leader for being one sided after Mr Adams urged people to take part in a black ribbon "March for Truth" in Belfast on Sunday.
"The utmost sensitivity is needed in any event marking the past," the North Antrim MLA said.
"Deep wounds are present and they are made worse by inappropriate forms of commemoration or campaigning.
"What is wrong about this call is the one-sided nature of it, the total ignoring of Sinn Fein's own responsibility in the search for truth and the need for it to accept the massive responsibility that the Republican Movement itself has for the death and destruction of the past."
Republicans from across Ireland will don black ribbons during Sunday's march in Belfast, highlighting their call for truth about security force involvement in loyalist paramilitary killings.
These include the 1989 UDA murder of North Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane and the decision by the Public Prosecution Service not to charge anybody after senior policeman Lord Stevens' inquiry into the death and a series of other incidents where collusion is suspected.
PA