VE Day 80: Watch as thousands on the streets for unveiling of new military arch on Shankill Road

The unveiling was accompanied by a huge march along the road.

Organiser Gary Lenaghan said that, according to police, about 12,000 spectators had turned out at 6.30pm for the unveiling and parade, with about 600 to 700 in the march itself.

At the same time a 300-head band concert is being held in the Spectrum Centre.

Though it was a ticketed concert, huge numbers turned up without tickets hoping to get in.

The ribbon-cutting for the arch was done by 101-year-old WWII veteran Victor Clarke alongside UUP East Belfast MLA and Afghanistan veteran Andy Allen in the presence of the King's representative, Lord Lieutenant Dame Fionnuala Jay-O'Boyle.

The parade involved the regimental branches of the RAF, Parachute Regiment, Irish Guards, Royal Irish Regiment, Royal Engineers, plus RAF, Royal Navy, and Army cadets, and the Scouts and Girls' Brigade.

MORE VE DAY COVERAGE HERE: Watch as World War Two veteran, aged 98, treated to round of applause in Carrickfergus as town marks 80th anniversary of VE Day

The Shankill arch itself cost some £40,000, and among the figures it commemorates is Falls Road Catholic James Joseph Magennis, who won the Victoria Cross for actions against the Japanese with the Royal Navy during World War Two.

"In my opinion, it shows you the resilience of the people of the Shankill, that they could come together,” said Mr Lenaghan.

"There’s probably no other community in the UK could organise something like that. That’s all community-driven, community-organised, and community-funded.

"This community gets a bad name. But there’s no community in the UK would have the organisational skills to do that.

"After all it’s come through, decades of trouble, they still have the know-how and will to go and do something like that.”

Fellow organiser Sam Coulter said that the mood on the road was "bouncing", and the new arch has created a "feel-good factor" in the neighbourhood.

Mr Coulter said the event "has just captured people's imagination".

"We started this arch project last September," he said.

"All the money was raised by donations to local businesses and the people that live here.

"The excitement has just built from Monday. We've got the arch up, we put it up on Tuesday night [with the detailing revealed tonight].

"It's our own tribute to whatever veterans are left."

There are also large-scale parades in east Belfast and Banbridge tonight.