Belfast Mela: Thousands celebrate diversity at Botanic Gardens

Thousands of people joined the festivities in Botanic Gardens

Thousands of people have celebrated Mela Day in Botanic Gardens in Belfast on Sunday.

The colourful event marked the end of the Belfast Mela Festival, a nine-day celebration of cultural diversity.

Mela has been running in Northern Ireland for 17 years and sees thousands of participants annually.

The closing event was organised by ethnic arts group ArtsEkta and featured international music, dance, food and visual arts.

Jayne Brady, Nisha Tandon, Ryan Murphy and Anna Lo led the opening procession

Over 40 nationalities were represented during Sunday's event.

ArtsEkta's founding member Nisha Tandon said the event was a "big celebration of all diversity, of NI coming together".

"The amount of support we have got from the public is absolutely fantastic, even with the drizzly rain people are coming out and supporting," she added.

Ms Tandon led the opening procession of Sunday's event alongside the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Jayne Brady, and Belfast Lord Mayor Ryan Murphy.

The event marked the end of a nine-day cultural festival