Vigil for murdered Catholic

MORE THAN 1,000 people attended a peace rally yesterday, close to the spot in east Belfast where a Catholic workman was killed by loyalist gunmen earlier this week, writes David McKittrick.

They heard calls for an end to violence from trade union leaders and community workers, and observed a minute's silence in memory of Joseph Reynolds, a 40-year-old father of five who was killed on his way to work at the Shorts aerospace factory.

Hundreds of workers from the factory were at the rally. A community worker, June Campion, said they were crying out to God to help end the conflict.

A west Belfast priest, Fr Thomas Toner, said after the rally: 'I would have been afraid to come here in my collar and black but for the fact that Joe Reynolds was murdered here, and these very good people are calling out to say that east Belfast is not full of killers and murders. I was really very touched and moved.'