Michael Stone, infamous for his single-handed gun and grenade attack on a crowd in a Belfast graveyard 10 years ago, received a rapturous welcome from more than 1,000 loyalists when he arrived in Belfast's Ulster Hall last night.
He was attending an Ulster Democratic Party rally calling for a Yes vote in the referendum.
The crowd rose to their feet, clapped, cheered and chanted UFF slogans as Stone was led to the front of the hall.
Stone was released yesterday on four days leave from the Maze Prison, where he is serving 30 years for killing three people in the attack in Milltown cemetery in 1988. He fired on mourners and threw grenades as three IRA members killed in Gibraltar were being buried.
A huge banner saying "Michael Stone says Yes" was raised high by supporters outside the Ulster Hall as Stone arrived minutes before the UDP meeting was due to start at 8 p.m. Smiling at well-wishers, he was led to the front of the hall by some 15 men as a band on stage played loyalist tunes.
Earlier, the UDP had insisted that Stone would not be "paraded" at the rally in the way members of the Balcombe Street gang were brought on to the platform at Sunday's Sinn Fein Ardfheis.
Stone was first led to a side room where he talked with leading members of the UDP. People in the crowd shouted "We want Michael", to cheers and applause. After some minutes, Stone was led on to the stage and took a seat behind the platform.
He again received a standing ovation, but did not speak at the rally. After the rally, he got into a van and was driven away.
The UDP's prison spokesman, Mr John White, opened the meeting by welcoming "our very dear friend, Michael Stone" and paid tribute to him and other UDA/UFF leaders in jail for their "pivotal role in achieving and sustaining" the loyalist ceasefire. Earlier yesterday, Mr White said the timing of Stone's leave was coincidental but he confirmed the NIO had turned down a request for the four UDA leaders in the jail to get special leave to attend the rally.
All prisoners in the North become eligible for a period of some 11 days home leave per year once they have served 10 years of their sentence.
At teatime yesterday, the leader of the UDA in the Maze prison telephoned the BBC to say Stone would not be representing prisoners at the rally. Sam McCrory said the UDA inmates did not want to cause hurt to the victims of violence.
"We know the timing is wrong. But that is not our fault. That is him as an individual, and it is his choice as an individual. He is not there to be paraded, and he is not there representing UDA inmates," Mr McCrory said. Mr White told UDP supporters, who carried UDA/UFF banners, to vote Yes for the Belfast Agreement because it copper-fastened a loyalist victory, and that the IRA had lost the war. He condemned No campaign leaders, the Rev Ian Paisley and Mr Bob McCartney, who he said feared "new relations and normalisation" within Northern Ireland. They had done nothing but divide unionism, he said. Loyalists now had a historic opportunity to show they no longer relied on unionist politicians who half-heartedly represented their interests.
Mr David Adams said he did not want to demonise those in the unionist community who were opposed to the agreement, but accused the leaders of the No campaign of hypocrisy. He urged loyalists to make up their own minds and not be influenced by what their opponents were doing.
He was saddened by people who said they were voting No because Sinn Fein had backed the agreement. To loud applause, he said it was "time to push Northern Ireland towards what it deserves - a resolution of the conflict". Both men and party leader, Mr Gary McMichael, received standing ovations and loud applause as they called on people to vote Yes.
Sam McCrory also declared last night that the "the war is over". He said: "I just hope to look forward and not look back. We are of the view the war is over." He was speaking on the radio as Stone walked into the rally at Belfast's Ulster Hall.