UK: GERRY ADAMS IS BANNED FROM USING PARLIAMENTARY FACILITIES UPDATE

(19 May 1997) English/Nat
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has failed in an attempt to overturn a ban which prevents him from using the facilities of the British parliament.
Speaking in London on Monday, the leader of the I-R-A's political wing said the ruling was a betrayal of the democratic process.
Adams was elected by a constituency in Northern Ireland in the U-K election earlier this month.
But he's been unable to take his parliamentary seat after refusing to swear allegiance to Britain's Queen Elizabeth.
Emerging from the throng of tourists outside the Houses of Parliament on Monday, Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness raised a few cheers from supporters as they sought to enter the Commons.
The police allowed them inside so that they could argue their case with officials - that as MPs they were entitled to set up a Sinn Fein office inside the Commons and to use other facilities.
But it was to no avail. They were told they wouldn't be allowed to take up their seats or use Commons facilities unless they swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen - something they refuse to do.
After more than an hour of talks, they left the building, pursued by the media. And at a news conference across the road in the shadow of Big Ben, Adams bitterly attacked a decision which he saw as discriminatory:
SOUNDBITE: "It's back to the old question that when Britain, which once used to rule the waves, is reduced to waiving (side-stepping) the rules.
SUPER CAPTION: Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein
Adams was asked whether he might have been more use to his constituents if he'd taken the Queen's oath.
But he declared that - much as he would like to serve the people who elected him - he could never swear allegiance to a British monarch.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Well you have to understand that I am Irish. You have to understand that I represent people in West Belfast and Martin represents people in mid-Ulster and right throughout the six counties, who have no affinity with the English Queen. Now people may object to that, people may say that's wrong, and other people may feel that they can easily take an oath to the English Queen. We don't feel like that, we want to see the people of your country and the people of our island living together in mutual equality and harmony and in peace"
SUPER CAPTION: Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein President
Later Adams and McGuinness returned to parliament for a second meeting with officials - and this time they emerged with House of Commons entry passes. But beyond that, Commons officials had given no ground.
As for the wider issue of whether the IRA will declare a new cease-fire in return for direct talks with the British government - a call repeated Monday by prime minister Tony Blair - Adams stuck to his guns.
SOUNDBITE:
I want to see a cease-fire by the military wing of this (British) establishment. I want to see a cease-fire by the (pro-British) loyalists. I want to see a cease-fire by the IRA. In other words we want to see a cessation of actions right across the whole spectrum.
SUPER CAPTION: Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein
The two Sinn Fein leaders left London with little to show for their efforts. But they vow they'll be back.
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