They stood shoulder to shoulder in the cold. Young and old, men and women, some with babies in prams.
All had a common purpose - to show their anger at the murder of two soldiers and a policeman in three days.
Several thousand people stood in sombre silence at the front of Belfast City Hall, the biggest of several rallies across Northern Ireland.
The silence was broken by a lone piper, the strains of Abide with Me playing out into the crowd.
Organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, several speakers told of their abhorrence at the first killings of members of the security forces in more than a decade.
ICTU assistant general secretary Peter Bunting told those gathered: "The trade union movement stands together with all citizens in solidarity to prevent any derailment of the peace process."
That sentiment was shared by many who had either made the journey to Belfast or who joined the rally in their lunch hour.
Student Daniel Elliott, 20, from Portadown, said people could not contemplate a return to violence.
"I feel that it's good that people from both sides of the community are coming together to say we want an end to this.
"We don't want to go back to where we were 20 odd years ago and have the army back on the streets, we just want a peaceful Northern Ireland for everybody."
All had a common purpose - to show their anger at the murder of two soldiers and a policeman in three days.
Several thousand people stood in sombre silence at the front of Belfast City Hall, the biggest of several rallies across Northern Ireland.
The silence was broken by a lone piper, the strains of Abide with Me playing out into the crowd.
Organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, several speakers told of their abhorrence at the first killings of members of the security forces in more than a decade.
ICTU assistant general secretary Peter Bunting told those gathered: "The trade union movement stands together with all citizens in solidarity to prevent any derailment of the peace process."
That sentiment was shared by many who had either made the journey to Belfast or who joined the rally in their lunch hour.
Student Daniel Elliott, 20, from Portadown, said people could not contemplate a return to violence.
"I feel that it's good that people from both sides of the community are coming together to say we want an end to this.
"We don't want to go back to where we were 20 odd years ago and have the army back on the streets, we just want a peaceful Northern Ireland for everybody."
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