Rejection of the Belfast Agreement could result in violence on a scale never before seen in Northern Ireland, a leading member of the Ulster Democratic Party has warned.
Addressing his party's annual conference on Saturday, Mr David Adams said he would be failing in his duty if he did not point out the "obvious reality" that violence would escalate if the agreement collapsed.
"We would have a situation whereby all faith in the democratic process evaporated, where an apocalyptic sense of hopelessness enveloped our community and where the vacuum would be filled by violence. Violence probably on a scale of intensity unseen here before," he said.
Mr Adams set out a strong defence of the agreement reached at Stormont on Good Friday and attacked those calling for a No vote in the referendum. Some 200 delegates heard him condemn the stance being taken by the DUP's Dr Ian Paisley, by Ulster Unionists who have joined the No campaign, and by Mr Bob McCartney of the UK Unionist Party.
In a well-received speech, Mr Adams also commended the statement issued by the UDA/UFF on Friday night backing the agreement, saying the role played by the paramilitary organisation was "a central and defining one."
The consequence of a No vote would be that investment from the US would end, unionist MPs at Westminster would be marginalised and Europe would "wash its hands" of the North, he said.
"In short, the world at large will decide that the people of Northern Ireland have rejected an opportunity for a settlement and therefore, quite simply, do not want peace. They will decide that we prefer war to peace, that we prefer conflict to conciliation."
Mr Adams said politicians at the talks had mapped out "a clear, democratic, and infinitely fair route map" which would provide democratic locally accountable governance. "It is now time for the people to play their part by endorsing the agreement on May 22nd."
The UDP did not pretend that the agreement was some magic formula that would solve all the problems, but it provided the first building blocks and might form "the essential foundation for a genuine and lasting resolution to political instability and resultant violent conflict."
Mr Adams said the party was uncomfortable with some elements of the agreement, but he believed that from a unionist and loyalist perspective it was "the very best deal" that could be achieved. "The nature of negotiations is that no one can get everything their own way," he said.
More than half of his speech was taken up with criticism of unionists opposed to the Agreement. He accused the DUP leader, Dr Ian Paisley, of building a political career "on heaping political paranoia on the unionist community and feeding off it."
Mr Bob McCartney, he said, was "swimming against the current" in calling for full integration within the UK because of the trend towards devolution.
Dissident Ulster Unionist MPs Mr William Ross and Mr William Thompson came, he said, from the "Jurassic Park school of political philosophy".
While many unionist MPs did not want to "rock the boat", the communities he represented would.
"It is our people who have fought and died. It is our people who have gone to prison. No, we are not going to squander lightly an agreement which might provide the opportunity for an honourable settlement."