All politicians and community leaders, including the Orange Order, must condemn the widespread street violence and fully support the PSNI, junior minister David Hanson has said.
In his first major speech as political development minister, David Hanson used the first public address by a minister since the IRA statement to chart the political path ahead.
He demanded a straight answer from politicians as to where they stood in relation to the convulsion on the streets of Belfast and the police response.
Speaking at Queen's University Belfast as traffic chaos developed in response to loyalist street protests, Mr Hanson set out the government line.
"All those with influence, both unionist politicians and those in leadership within the Orange Order, must publicly condemn, without equivocation, the per-petrators of this violence and give their full support to the PSNI," he said.
Mr Hanson referred positively to the IRA statement of last July in which the organisation said its campaign was formally over.
Employing careful language, he said: "The clarity of the IRA's message - and the lack of conditionality - marked it out as potentially different to statements we have previously seen. It does potentially commit the IRA to peaceful means and to a complete cessation of all activities.
"The IRA's statement holds out the prospect that those activities are at an end," he said. "We entirely understand that some will be cautious and will not accept those commitments at face value."
However, Mr Hanson said independently verified decommissioning by the IRA of all illegally held weapons "remains an essential ingredient of rebuilding trust and confidence".
The minister's speech was carefully drafted to take account of the weekend violence and the continuing disruption on the streets of Belfast. But its tone was one of steady continuity in policy and it was upbeat about a return to devolution at Stormont if democratic conditions were met.
The Orange Order remained tight-lipped yesterday, refusing to add to its criticism of Sir Hugh Orde, the PSNI chief constable.
However, the most senior Orangemen in Belfast, Dawson Bailie, told the BBC his organisation was not responsible for the trouble. He said he would refuse to condemn anything.
"As far as I'm concerned the people to blame for that are the Secretary of State, the chief constable and the Parades Commission, fairly and squarely."
In a statement, the Parades Commission, which ordered the rerouting of last Saturday's Whiterock march, said: "Those who call people on to the streets must accept their role in the violence which follows such calls."
The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, stood by his warnings that the rerouted march could provide the spark to a fire that may not be put out.
"I was telling the truth. I said I was very, very worried," he said. "At that time I was in the midst of trying to get a way whereby this would not happen. And it has happened - my words have been proved to be right."
Sir Reg Empey, the Ulster Unionist leader, said there was no excuse for the shooting and rioting. But he added: "We must analyse what went wrong. Why did communities that are normally peaceful and law-abiding erupt in such an astonishing way?" Everyone had to take some of the blame, he said, including the Parades Commission for "petty and inconsistent" rulings, the PSNI for heavy-handedness and the British government for "undermining democrats".