Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams' presence among the shamrocks and bagpipes at Saturday's St. Patrick's Day Parade put a serious spin on the annual celebration of all things Irish.
"This parade appropriately is dedicated to peace, and that's what we have to be attempting to achieve," Adams said after attending Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. "We have to get the peace process restored with all speed."It was Adams' first-ever visit to the nation's oldest and largest St. Patrick's celebration, and the Irishman was greeted like a native son as he marched up Fifth Avenue past crowds that stood 10-deep on the Manhattan sidewalks.
Irish flags flapped in the cold breeze as tens of thousands of spectators braved chilly 42-degree temperatures to cheer Adams. Earlier, members of the Irish Gay and Lesbian Organization were arrested for protesting their annual exclusion from the parade.
Adams, wearing a gray suit with a green tie and a green ribbon on his lapel, flashed thumbs up to the appreciative crowd as he walked with the United Irish Counties Association. The head of the political wing of the outlawed Irish Republican Army was accompanied by U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., a vocal advocate of a united Ireland.
Adams was greeted outside the cathedral by Cardinal John O'Connor, who had earlier quoted Pope John Paul II in urging a peaceful solution to the centuries-old struggle for peace in Ireland.
With Adams seated about 20 rows from the altar, O'Connor used the homily at his traditional pre-parade Mass to read portions of a 1979 speech delivered by the pontiff in Northern Ireland.
"I urge you in politics to have the courage to face up to your responsibility, to lead in the cause of peace," O'Connor said.
Adams, who listened intently, joined the rest of the congregation in cheering the cardinal.
O'Connor also delivered a one-liner of his own after surveying the crowd: "What a wonderful and extraordinary sight - 4,000 Irishmen in relative peace."
Later, Adams made a point of crossing the aisle to receive communion from the cardinal. The pair had met privately last year in New York.
The IRA broke a 17-month cease-fire on Feb. 9 with a bomb that killed two people in London. All-party talks about Northern Ireland are scheduled for June, and the Clinton administration is pressuring Adams to engineer another cease-fire before then.
But there was room for more than partisan politics along the 235th parade route.
The most popular item at this year's parade: a green-and-white version of the Cat in the Hat's stovepipe chapeau.