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Armistice Day: Events held across Ireland

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Armistice City HallImage source, PAcemaker
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Deputy Lord Mayor Tom Haire and High Sheriff Michael Long were part of a delegation at the Garden of Remembrance

Events have been held in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to mark Armistice Day.

A crowd gathered in the grounds of Belfast City Hall as the Last Post was played before a two-minute silence was observed at 11:00 GMT.

The event was led by the Royal British Legion.

Deputy Lord Mayor Tom Haire and High Sheriff Michael Long were part of a delegation at the Garden of Remembrance.

At Stormont, the DUP and Ulster Unionist Party took part in acts of remembrance.

First Minister Paul Givan, accompanied by DUP deputy leader Paula Bradley and MLA Christopher Stalford, laid a wreath, as did UUP assembly member and veteran Andy Allen, accompanied by MLAs John Stewart and Roy Beggs.

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Members of the public observe a minute's silence at Belfast City Hall

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne attended an act of remembrance at the RUC GC Memorial Garden at police headquarters.

The Royal Irish Regiment held a service of remembrance at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast on Sunday.

It was attended by Mr Haire, as well as the ambassador of the Republic of Korea Kim Gunn, who laid a wreath in memory of soldiers from the Royal Ulster Rifles killed during the Korean War.

The two-minute silence observed on Armistice Day marks the end of World War One in 1918 where an agreement between Germany and the Allies was made "on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month".

In Dublin the armistice was marked at Glasnevin Cemetery.

Image caption,

A minute's silence was held at the war memorial in Londonderry

It was attended by Deputy Lord Mayor Joe Costello, Lord Lieutenant of Belfast Fionnuala Jay-O'Boyle, British ambassador to Ireland Paul Johnson as well as the French, Canadian and German ambassadors.

Also in attendance was Major General of the Defence Forces Anthony McKenna and John Connolly from the RAF Association Ireland.

An ecumenical service was led jointly by Fr Richard Sheehy and the Rev David Oxley.

Seven wreaths were laid, while a piper played a lament.

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Thomas Sheehan, president of the French Foreign Legion Veterans Association of Ireland, lays a wreath at Glasnevin cemetery in Dublin

Meanwhile there was condemnation following the erection of a republican poster at the Enniskillen war memorial on Wednesday night, where acts of remembrance are more poignant following an IRA bomb attack in the town on Remembrance Sunday in 1987 which killed 12 people.

UUP leader Doug Beattie criticised it as a "hideous attempt to stoke up tensions", adding "we should all stand to condemn this deliberately offensive action", while DUP MLA Deborah Erskine said those who erected it were "twisted".

The poster was removed later on Wednesday night.