Good Friday Agreement: 25th anniversary of NI peace deal marked

A sunrise meet-up was arranged to remember those who were killed during the Troubles before the peace deal

People in Northern Ireland have been taking part in events to mark the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday peace agreement.

The 1998 deal ended 30 years of violent conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles, which cost the lives of more than 3,500 people.

A series of events were held on Friday, giving the public and politicians the chance to reflect on the work that led to the deal and the subsequent peace.

More will take place next week.

On Friday morning some of those who were bereaved during the conflict met on the beach in Killough in County Down at sunrise.

The gathering was organised by the Wave Trauma Centre, which supports people who were injured or who lost loved ones the Troubles.

Alan McBride, whose wife and father-in-law were killed in the 1993 Shankill bomb in Belfast, attended the event and said the Good Friday Agreement had been a "breakthrough".

"It was a watershed in Northern Irish society in terms of the Troubles and coming through it - I never thought they ever would," he said.

Read more about the agreement

EXPLAINER - What is the agreement?

ANALYSIS - The winding road to peace

CONTROVERSY - The issue that almost derailed it

The agreement was approved in a referendum in 1998, with 71% of voters backing it.

Mr McBride was one of those who voted for the peace deal.

"Twenty-five years on I would have thought that we would have been much further down the road to the sort of society that I believe we were voting for in '98," he said.

In west Belfast on Friday afternoon communities from across the political divide came together to mark the anniversary.

People held hands as they formed what was described as a "human peace wall" in west Belfast

There was singing and reflection from many of those who gathered in west Belfast to mark the anniversary

About 100 people formed a "human peace wall" on a road between the mainly nationalist Falls and predominantly unionist Shankill areas.

They stood still at Northumberland Street for 25 seconds to mark the years that have passed since the agreement was signed.

The event was held at so-called "peace gates" along one of the dividing lines between the two communities.

The peace gates are a symbol of how those neighbourhoods are still separated a quarter of a century after the signing of the historic peace agreement.

'An important part of history'

Tourist Dhwani Tandya and her boyfriend David McElhinney were doing a black taxi tour when they saw the "human peace wall".

Ms Tandya said the Good Friday Agreement was a "really important part of Belfast's history".

"I hadn't been aware of it until I met David so I'd only learned about it recently," she said.

Mr McElhinney, who is from Northern Ireland, was four years old when the agreement was signed.

"Our taxi driver is about 60 and you get a real sense that the place he grew up in was very different to the Belfast I grew up in," he said.

"We need to appreciate growing up in the post-Troubles era."

Politicians also spoke about their memories of the agreement at an event at Stormont on Friday.

It featured some of those who were involved in securing the agreement and who were subsequently elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998.

About 200 people were invited by Assembly Speaker Alex Maskey.

Former US Senator George Mitchell, who chaired the talks that led to the agreement, sent a video message, urging Stormont's political leaders to act with the same "courage and vision" as those who negotiated the peace deal.

He said they must "do whatever is necessary to preserve peace".

Members of the Women's Coalition are also holding an event on Friday to mark the 25th anniversary.

The group was founded in 1996 and its members Jane Morrice and Monica McWilliams both won seats in the 1998 assembly election.

Politicians including Bertie Ahern - pictured on stage - spoke at an anniversary event at Stormont's Parliament Buildings

The actual date of the anniversary is 10 April and it will be marked next week when US President Joe Biden arrives for a visit to Northern Ireland.

He is expected to open the new Ulster University campus in Belfast.

The president will address business leaders and have discussions with politicians during his short stay in the city.

He is expected to leave Northern Ireland and travel to the Republic of Ireland on 12 April.