THE "most important contribution" the British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, could make to the peace process would be to call an immediate general election, Sinn Fein Ardchomhairle member Mr Martin McGuinness told a Bloody Sunday rally in London on Saturday.
Amid a heavy police presence, Mr McGuinness told around 500 demonstrators not to be "dismayed" by the current state of the peace process.
"I would hope the election would result in a strong government. I hope the government would have a fresh look at what has happened in Ireland over the course of the last couple of years and that the government would attempt to re-engage with the rest of us in an attempt to bring about a negotiated settlement on our island," he said.
Mounted police and two pipe bands escorted the 500 demonstrators through the streets of north London to the rally at a small hall in Caxton House, Archway, to mark the 25th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
To the surprise of many, including the police, the commemoration was low key. Although posters advertising the march had been plastered across shops and buildings along the route for several weeks, organisers admitted the numbers were "disappointing". Scotland Yard described the event as "peaceful" with only one arrest.
Even a number of the advertised speakers failed to turn up. Mr Tony Benn, the Labour MP, was suffering from flu, while Mr Eamon O Cuiv TD was unable to attend because of his work commitments.
At a press conference before the rally, Mr Gerry Duddy, from the Bloody Sunday Relatives for Justice, tried to generate British media interest in their demands for an independent public inquiry into the events of January 30th, 1972, by showing photographs of the protesters "seconds before they were shot" to prove they were unarmed.
"They were shot in the back as they ran for their lives. These pictures tell their own story. The official version, which was given the very next day, and broadcast to the world was that the British army shot armed bombers," he said.
One journalist eagerly interrupted; "Is this new evidence? Are these pictures new?" he asked.
Shaking his head, Mr Duddy, whose 17 year old brother was among the 13 people killed in Derry by the British paratroopers, replied; "No, these photographs are old and have been available for 25 years. There are more at the public records office in Kew."
To cheers, Mr McGuinness told the rally that Bloody Sunday remained "an open wound" for the Irish people and said an international public inquiry was a necessary confidence building measure.
"The British government has done everything in its power to convince people that those who died were involved in bombing and shooting against the British army.
"The British government could have said they were prepared to recognise a terrible wrong was done on that day, that the British government was responsible and the British army were the perpetrators and hold their hands up and tell all of us the full story of what happened on that day."
However Mr Declan Bree, the Labour TD, was heckled by certain sections of the crowd when he argued there was no justification for ending the IRA ceasefire last February.
. Sinn Fein members in Cork staged a peaceful protest at the weekend when the British ambassador, Mrs Veronica Sutherland, officiated at a community ceremony in Ballincollig, outside the city.
About 20 members of the party, carrying banners calling for a new inquiry into Bloody Sunday, were present as the ambassador arrived to present the Good Citizen of the Year Award to Mr Dan Murray, the principal of the local community school.