SINN FEIN and IRA leaders are doing their utmost to end the ongoing republican street violence. It's a difficult task. At a rally in west Belfast yesterday, Mr Gerry Adams appealed for nationalists to act in a restrained and disciplined manner.
Three hours later, a group of militants who said they were "disgusted" by the speech hijacked an Ulster Television van on the Andersonstown Road and set it on fire.
"That's the only way to move the republican struggle forward," said one of those involved.
The de facto IRA ceasefire in the North has come under severe strain during the past week from dissatisfied grassroots members.
The activities of the INLA, and paramilitaries who pledge allegiance to Republican Sinn Fein, has also increased the pressure.
Some ordinary Provisionals have ignored their leadership's orders not to become involved in street violence. They have joined other nationalist youth in burning cars, buildings and petrol bombing police. ...
The violence in publican areas across the North on Friday night was unprecedented since the 1981 hunger strikes. The IRA leadership was extremely worried that the situation was spiralling out of control.
On Saturday night, they ordered the majority of bars and off licences in west Belfast to close in an attempt to avoid after hours rioting.
Senior members of the "Belfast Brigade" stood at flashpoint areas preventing young people from rioting.
The situation was particularly volatile in Andersonstown where IRA "lieutenants" were involved in a serious confrontation with their own lower echelons who wanted to riot. It nearly ended in a fight. A compromise allowed the grassroots activists to burn a few vehicles.
Sinn Fein also contacted the RUC through intermediaries. The police reportedly agreed to keep a low profile in Andersonstown that night. "If there is no RUC on the streets, there is nothing for people to attack," said one contact.
The leadership's attempts at quelling the situation were highly successful. "On the Richter scale, Saturday night was a one compared to Friday night's 10," said a police source.
However, four paramilitary attacks by other republican groups in the past four days, have created added problems for the Provisional leadership.
In two separate attacks on Thursday night, the INLA shot three police officers. The paramilitary group also opened fire on police in Ballymurphy early Saturday.
The bombing of the Killyhevlin Hotel in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, is believed to be the work of paramilitaries who pledge allegiance to Republican Sinn Fein. They call themselves the IRA as they do not recognise the Provisional leadership.
The INLA and this other group are numerically and financially weaker than the Provisionals. So their willingness to engage in military attacks, when the more powerful organisation remains inactive, places the IRA under serious pressure.
Neither of the two smaller groups is believed to have the strength to carry out a sustained campaign in the North. However, they could cause enough turmoil to bring about a loyalist response and to create even more dissatisfaction among IRA grassroots.
Ordinary IRA activists would feel emasculated if other paramilitaries were attacking the security forces while they observed a de facto ceasefire. Such a scenario could lead to a grassroots rebellion.
Overall, the Provisional leadership remains very much in control of republican areas. Mr Adams received rapturous applause at the demonstration in west Belfast yesterday.
However, there have been moments of tension. A senior Sinn Fein politician was heckled at a rally on the Falls Road last week when he urged nonviolence.
A veteran republican in Ardoyne, north Belfast, was also verbally attacked by locals in a separate incident. When Mr Adams visited a street last week, which had been caught up in the disturbances, one woman told him he would be better off "going and seeing what the IRA will do about it".
Sinn Fein is walking the tightrope of keeping the situation under control, yet not losing touch with its base.
At IRA meetings across west Belfast last week, ordinary members made many extreme proposals. One suggested an immediate onslaught on loyalists. The room erupted in cheers.
Senior IRA leaders "just listened and absorbed everything, but said nothing", said a source. Armed and masked IRA members appeared on the streets of north and west Belfast last week but did not engage in any violence. It was mainly a stunt to make the point that they hadn't "gone away".
Sinn Fein has organised a series of pickets, rallies and meetings to form "nationalist defence committees" this week. This is clearly an attempt to channel nationalist anger into constitutional protest and to keep young people busy.
The party leadership wants to move the situation forward, not through street violence, but through a pan nationalist alliance with the Government and the SDLP.
The threat from loyalist paramilitaries appeared to recede after the Drumcree outcome, however, further attacks by the INLA or any other fringe republican organisation could change all that. The Provisional leadership is praying that these paramilitary groups will exercise restraint.