Lyra McKee: Crowds applaud as murdered journalist's coffin arrives at cathedral

The cathedral was packed with around 600 mourners, including Prime Minister Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Mr Corbyn was seen talking to Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and later with Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster.

In his introductory comments, Dean of Belfast Stephen Forde said: "Lyra was a person who broke down barriers and reached across boundaries.

"This was her hallmark in life, this is her legacy in death."

He said she was a child of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which largely ended decades of violence and talked of the hopes for an end to the prejudices of the past and the possibilities of a new future.

The dissident republican group that murdered journalist Lyra McKee has been urged to walk away from violence.

In his address, Father Martin Magill urged the republican terror group that murdered Lyra - the new IRA - to walk away from violence.

"I plead with you to take the road of non-violence to achieve your political ends," he said.

"It was encouraging to see that those who provide a political analysis to the organisation responsible for her death chose to call off their parade on Easter Monday following the call from Father Joe Gormley, the parish priest in Creggan where Lyra was killed.

"To those still intent on violence, I ask you to listen to the majority of the people on your beloved island of Ireland who are calling on you to stop."

Fr Magill said he "dares to hope" that the tragedy can be "the doorway to a new beginning".

He paid tribute to those who had left red hand prints on the offices of the dissident republican political group Saoradh at the weekend, describing it as a "powerful gesture of non-violence", and also commended those who have given information about the murder to police.

"There is a rule in many of our communities that we do not, we should not, give information to police, and that to do so is to become a 'tout'," he said.

"But that was one of a number of rules - rules that also said that it was OK to brutalise children for petty crimes, or rules that say you can live in the locality until you are told you can't, or rules that said the only way we could gain 'freedom' was by other fellow human beings losing their lives.

"But this week I have seen these rules turned on their head. I have seen many people stand up and condemn this culture of violence and coercive control.

"We need to send a very different message and so I appeal to those who have information about Lyra's murder but who haven't yet come forward to do so now.

"If you want to see an end to these brutal rules, and see a new society built on justice and fairness, on hope and not fear, then you can help build that society by letting the police know what you know.

"There will be special measures put in place to ensure your safety and where you will not be intimidated by coercive controllers, if you do so."

Fr Magill also urged Northern Ireland's politicians to start talking to reform the power-sharing government which has been collapsed for more than two years.

"Many, many wonderful things have been said about her including the warm and deserved tributes paid to her by the Secretary of State and by MPs of all parties in the House of Commons yesterday evening," he said.

"In death Lyra has united people of many different backgrounds as further evidenced by this diverse congregation at her funeral."

As the funeral was being held, a number of journalists posted tributes on social media with the hashtag #WeStandWithLyra.

BBC presenter Andrea Catherwood tweeted: "Cameras down in Doha to remember fellow journalist #LyraMcKee senselessly murdered in Derry. Her values of inclusion, love and equality are N Ireland's future. #WestandwithLyra"

Other images showed journalists paying their respects in newsrooms for outlets including Channel 4 News and the BBC.

And the National Union of Journalists tweeted an image from a vigil being held for Miss McKee at St Bride's Church, dubbed the "journalists' church", in Fleet Street, London.