The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, has said the postponement of the Assembly elections shows the unionist veto is still in place and the Northern population is being denied even "very modest entitlements".
"This is back to civil rights days. This is back to no Fenians about the place. This is back to the British government upholding a unionist veto." Mr Adams accused the British government of "arrogance" in postponing the election against the wishes of every Northern political party except the Ulster Unionists.
London had treated the Government "like a junior partner". The Sinn Féin president described the British Prime Minister as a "smart politician and an intelligent leader". However, he said it was unbelievable Mr Blair stated that all problems should be solved politically as he cancelled elections and disenfranchised people.
Mr Adams said the British government had no right to prevent elections which derived from the Belfast Agreement which a majority of people on the island had supported.
He said peaceful, demonstrations would be organised in protest on May 29th, the day the elections were to be held. He called on other pro-Agreement parties to join Sinn Féin in protesting.
Mr Adams praised the "tenacity" of his party's negotiating team. He said he had provided the clarity required by Mr Blair on the Provisional IRA's intentions. He had answered the prime minister's questions "precisely and clearly".
He welcomed the publication of the two government's blueprint for restoring the Assembly and the Executive. Sinn Féin believed the Provisional IRA statement to the governments should also be published. The Belfast Agreement remained "unfinished work", he added.
The 32-County Sovereignty Movement said the postponement of the Assembly elections showed that British sovereignty clearly remained over the North. Security sources say the Sovereignty Movement is the political wing of the "Real IRA", a claim the group denies.
Sovereignty Movement chairman, Mr Francie Mackey, said: "The postponement of the election to the puppet parliament at Stormont shows clearly that British sovereignty as enshrined in the Good Friday agreement is the superior voice when it suits British interests.