Big crowds mourn war dead in the North

Thousands of people attended Remembrance Day ceremonies in cities, towns and villages throughout Northern Ireland

Thousands of people attended Remembrance Day ceremonies in cities, towns and villages throughout Northern Ireland. The largest gathering was in Belfast, while the most emotional services were those in Omagh and Enniskillen.

In Portadown, Orangemen who attended a service at Drumcree were prevented by the RUC from parading down the nationalist Garvaghy Road.

In Omagh, the president of the Omagh branch of the Royal British Legion, Mr Roy Maguire, read out the names of the 29 victims of the bombing last August, together with those of two unborn children. The ceremony was attended by a number of those injured in the blast. Wreaths were laid at the site of the explosion in Market Street.

Wreaths were also placed at the war memorial in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, where in 1987 the IRA killed 11 people.

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In Belfast, the Duchess of Kent led the main service outside the City Hall, accompanied by the North's Security Minister, Mr Adam Ingram, and the Lord Mayor, Mr David Alderdice, of the Alliance Party. Hundreds of ex-servicemen attended a reception in the City Hall after the service.

In Newry, Co Down, Ms Josephine O'Hare, the SDLP vice-chairwoman of Newry and Mourne District Council, was among those who laid wreaths at the town's cenotaph.

Several hundred members of the Orange Order in Portadown joined parishioners at Drumcree Church of Ireland church for the annual service. Afterwards they again attempted to parade along the nationalist Garvaghy Road, but were prevented from doing so by a strong RUC presence. The order's district master, Mr Harold Gracey, said it was "tragic" that they were being prevented by the "agencies of a supposedly democratic state" from exercising their "religious and civil liberties" on Remembrance Day.

Gerry Moriarty

Gerry Moriarty

Gerry Moriarty is the former Northern editor of The Irish Times