The North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, has denied that he threatened to resign if the Portadown Orangemen were not allowed to march down the Garvaghy Road.
However, the Ulster Unionist leader said he had repeatedly warned that the situation in Portadown had the "capacity to destabilise Northern Ireland, and if this situation is not resolved satisfactorily it could put at risk all the political progress we have achieved".
Yesterday's Daily Telegraph claimed that Mr Trimble had told the British government the Belfast Agreement could be destroyed and his position as First Minister made untenable if the Drumcree parade was not allowed through.
Mr Trimble said the report was "a bit overheated". "I am not threatening to resign. But I have explained my view to the government that this issue has the potential to bring the whole thing down," he said.
At a press conference at Stormont yesterday, Mr Trimble said there were "elements on both sides who are trying to exploit the situation". He warned that "if it weren't for the elements who want to destroy political progress here, we probably wouldn't have this situation at all".
He said it was no secret that he believed the Parades Commission had made a mistake in deciding to ban the Orangemen from going down the Garvaghy Road. He believed "the whole concept of the Parades Commission is misconceived". Mr Trimble appealed to people "to keep calm and to keep the peace". There had been some "regrettable incidents of violence" overnight, but he asked people to "keep them in proportion. Everybody was able to go to work today; there were no serious obstructions to the movement of people in Northern Ireland this morning."
Mr Trimble said he was involved in discussions with government, church and other figures to try to resolve the deadlock at Portadown. He had met the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mowlam, yesterday morning and had been on the telephone to Downing Street. Yesterday afternoon he travelled to Armagh to meet the Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames. Earlier the Northern Secretary, Dr Mowlam, said the Ulster Unionist leader had "shown a lot of courage over the months, and I don't believe he is a quitter. I don't believe anybody has to quit the Assembly, because the Assembly is the way to build a better future."