HEAVY rain failed to dampen the euphoric spirits of a 1,000 strong crowd that gathered in West Belfast yesterday to greeted the two newly elected Sinn Fein MPs, Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness.
The crowds had marched from all four corners of Belfast for the rally on the eve of the anniversary of the death of hunger striker Bobby Sands, who was elected an MP in April, 1981, shortly before he died.
Mr Adams told the crowd: "What is very important 16 years later is that we see that our struggle is once again on a very high threshold. Where is Margaret Thatcher? Where is John Major? They have gone away, you know."
This was clearly a reference to Mr Adams's comment at a Belfast rally soon after the ceasefire in 1994, when he said of a reference to the IRA: "They haven't gone away you know.
Mr Adams had a message for the newly elected British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair. "What Mr Blair and what the British government have to understand is that there is a huge opportunity here for the people of this island to come together in peace and in equality.
"He has a majority which unlocks him from the death grip of unionism. He doesn't have to watch David Trimble. He doesn't have to watch Ian Paisley. He can bring about a new beginning for the people of his own island and for the people of our island also.
"Sinn Fein is ready to do business with the British government. We are ready to do business with the unionists. We are ready to seek an agreement, to seek an accommodation. We make no apologies for wanting an end to British rule in our country. We make no apologies for being a party which wants, change, a party which wants equality.
"David Trimble should stop being afraid of Ian Paisley. David Trimble got his mandate in this election. He should learn the lesson that he can't lead his people backwards. There is only one way to go in this situation and that is forwards.
"Mr Paisley will continue with his playacting and his posturing and we will be patient with him. We will put up with the theatre that he engages in. But we will not put up with bigotry. We will not put up with second class citizenship. We will not put up with the burning of churches or denial of civil and religious liberty and we will not put up with sectarian, triumphalistic Orange parades through areas where they are not welcome," Mr Adams said.
However, he said, all of this could be, resolved through talk and negotiations.
In a message to the Taoiseach, Mr Adams said: "Mr Bruton had a say about this election. He said the people should not vote for Sinn Fein. The people ... did Mr Bruton the service of gently and quietly ignoring him.
"He cannot have an a la carte attitude to the issue of equality of rights. How on earth do you tell the people of Mid Ulster or the people of West Belfast, and how do you tell all those people in all those Irish counties, that their vote isn't worth as much as the DUP vote, the SDLP vote or a UUP vote?
"A Taoiseach has to stand up for the rights of citizens, has to reach out and has to take risks. Mr Bruton should accept the democratic outcome of last Thursday's election. He should go to meet Mr Blair and together they should carve out the next stage in this process.
"There's lots of hope out there. There's lots of apprehension. There's some fear. There's some concern. Let me tell everyone that Sinn Fein is a political party which is totally united. Sinn Fein represents a section of our people who are totally united. We are bringing change about."
He called on the British government to deal with the problem of republican prisoners in British jails without delay, adding that there would be no peace settlement unless all political prisoners in Ireland and Britain were freed.
Mr McGuinness spoke of the impact the deaths of the hunger strikers have had. "I can assure the families that during the course of everything that we do, whether it be with the Irish Government or with the British government or standing in an election, everywhere we go we feel the power of the hunger strikers behind us."
An Ulster Unionist Party councillor, Mr Jim Rodgers, who is chairman of the parks committee on Belfast City Council, said he would be seeking legal advice on what he said was Sinn Fein's "takeover" of Dunville Park off the Falls Road.
Mr Rodgers said he had received a number of angry telephone calls from people who had sought permission to use parks in Belfast and had been refused or had to pay for it, asking how Sinn Fein was able to take it over.
