TWO minutes silence in commemoration of the war dead was observed by thousands of people throughout Northern Ireland yesterday.
The observance was marked in factories, offices and shops in the North at 11 a.m. - in commemoration of the moment the first World War ended in 1918, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month - and in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the two world wars and other conflicts.
While the main commemorations were held throughout Northern Ireland on Sunday - the Sunday closest to November 11th - the two minute observance was staged yesterday following a campaign by the British Legion to hold an additional tribute.
Programmes on BBC Northern Ireland and UTV were suspended for the two minutes, and departures at Belfast International Airport were delayed out of respect.
While the services and the observances are generally viewed elsewhere as an innocent remembrance, many Catholics and nationalists in the North are resistant to the occasion, viewing it as a ritual of imperialist or unionist triumphalism.
Consequently, in many workplaces it was left to individual employees to decide whether to observe the silence.
A spokesman for the aerospace company, Shorts, said there was no company policy on whether staff should observe the silence. It was left to each individual employee to decide whether he or she wanted to mark the observance.
A spokesman for Harland and Wolff also said it was for each individual to decide whether to mark the occasion. The company had two memorials at its shipyard commemorating employees who died in the world wars, and a special wreath laying service was held at the memorials last Friday.
