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April 25, 2019

U.K., Irish Politicians Join Funeral for Murdered Journalist Lyra McKee
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And in Belfast, funeral services were held Wednesday for Northern Irish
journalist Lyra Mc Kee, who was shot in the head by an Irish nationalist
militant last week during riots in the city of Derry. Leaders from both
sides of Northern Ireland's political divide appeared side by side at
the funeral; they were joined by British officials and leaders from the
Republic of Ireland in St. Anne's Protestant cathedral.

At Wednesday's funeral, a friend revealed that just hours before she was
murdered, Lyra Mc Kee said she was about to propose marriage to her
partner, Sara Canning.

A group calling itself the New IRA, which opposes the 1998 Belfast
Agreement peace accord, has claimed responsibility for the murder,
though it didn't identify the shooter. Ahead of Wednesday's funeral,
Sinn Féin President Mary Lou Mc Donald condemned the assassination.

Mary Lou Mc Donald: "So it's past time now for these groups that
masquerade as Republicans to pack up and pack it in, to end their
activities and to let the people get on with the work of building a new
united Ireland, that Ireland that we all want, an Ireland that will be a
tribute to our patriot dead and to all who died, the Ireland in which
Lyra Mc Kee should have lived."



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