Sinn Fein Protest At Westminster

The two men refused to swear an Oath of Allegiance to the Queen and so were barred by the Speaker of the House of Commons from taking their seats as MPs.

The two Sinn Fein MP's joined by veteran left winger Tony Benn approached the Sergeant at Arms, Peter Jennings to request their MPs passes. In what was described as an "amicable meeting" it was made plain to the MPs that they could use all the facilities of the House until the end of the Queen's Speech debate tomorrow night, when the Speaker's ruling comes into effect.

Adams and McGuinness: "not a stunt"

Mr Adams said he would be challenging Speaker Betty Boothroyd's decision.

"The issue will not be over after the debate on the Queen's Speech. We have a five-year term to serve," he said.

Mr Adams said he believed that there were many people in the British parliamentary system who were "very uneasy about the situation".

"We fought the election and we did so on the very clear basis we would not take the Oath of Allegiance...We are here to challenge the ruling and we do so in a measured way...The ruling is discriminatory and refuses to accept the right of voters in Ireland to elect representatives of their choice," he said.

Mr McGuinness said that their protest today was not a publicity stunt. "There might be an attempt by some sections of the media to portray what we are doing as a publicity stunt. Nothing could be further from the truth."

Scotland Yard said the pair would not be ejected from the area open to the general public unless they committed a criminal offence.

The protest will delay an historic meeting planned between Sinn Fein and senior officials this week after Prime Minister Tony Blair's offer of talks aimed at kick-starting the Northern Ireland peace process.