The leaders of Britain and Ireland have joined hundreds of mourners at the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee, who was killed by an Irish nationalist militant during a riot.
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Leaders from across Northern Ireland's political divide sat side by side along with British Prime Minister Theresa May, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and senior members of his government in McKee's native Belfast on Wednesday.
McKee was remembered as a "talented and fearless young woman" who broke down barriers.
The New IRA group, which opposes Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord, has said one of its members shot the 29-year-old journalist dead in Londonderry on Thursday when opening fire on police officers during a riot McKee was watching. The group has not identified the shooter.
"In death Lyra has united people of many different backgrounds," Roman Catholic Father Martin Magill told the multicultural, cross-community service, pleading with those behind her murder to take the road of non-violence.
"I ask you to listen to the majority of the people on your beloved island of Ireland who are calling on you to stop," he said.
"Why in God's name does it take the death of a 29-year-old woman with her whole life in front of her to get us to this point?" Magill added, addressing the politicians with a challenge that received a spontaneous standing ovation in the church.
The 1998 peace agreement ended nearly three decades of "The Troubles" - hostilities between mainly Protestant supporters of continued British rule of the province and mainly Catholic proponents of unification with the Irish Republic.
McKee's family described the writer and lesbian and gay rights activist as a smart, strong-minded woman who believed passionately in justice, inclusivity and truth, and would not wish ill on anyone.
Australian Associated Press