The Democratic Unionist leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, said yesterday that all "right-thinking people" celebrating the Twelfth would be remembering the Quinn family in Ballymoney and their sorrow at the murder of their three young children.
Addressing members of the Independent Orange Order in Ballymoney, Dr Paisley said that people would be appalled that "three little boys" - Richard Quinn (11) and his brothers Mark (10) and Jason (9) - had been "so devilishly done to death".
But the main focus of his speech was on the continuing standoff at Drumcree. He described the decision not to allow Orangemen to parade along the Garvaghy Road as "an abuse and denial of a basic civil liberty - the right to free assembly, the right to walk unhindered on the public highway".
Dr Paisley said that Drumcree was "a battle for civil and religious liberty and a battle which Ulster cannot afford to lose". He blamed the situation on the British government and the Parades Commission, which he described as "a discredited anti-Orange quango".
He continued: "My party warned that the proposal to remove the decision on parades from the legal security forces of the Crown and to place it in the hands of an unelected and unrepresentative quango was a recipe for disaster.
"We warned that it would bring about chaos and violence. We warned that it would be the catalyst for creating an uncontrollable situation that would result in mayhem. We warned that the government had learned absolutely nothing from what happened on previous occasions."
Dr Paisley called for the Parades Commission to be disbanded immediately. "The idea that a commission can be set up to determine whether people can engage in a basic civil liberty is a tragedy for society", he added.
He also called for the resignations of the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, and her political minister, Mr Adam Ingram.