Belfast postman mourned

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- At least 2,000 mourners attended the funeral of a Catholic postal worker who was the victim of a sectarian killing.

Danny McColgan, 20, was gunned down when he arrived for work at the Royal Mail sorting office in Rathcoole in Belfast on Saturday.

Hundreds of postal workers stood in silence outside Daniel McColgan's home on the northern outskirts of the city as his coffin was carried from the house.

The loyalist group, the Ulster Defence Association has claimed responsibility for the shooting. Two men are being questioned by police over the killing.

Loyalist sources said one of the men being held was a public representative from the Greater Belfast area.

Postal workers across Northern Ireland were staging a 24-hour stoppage as a sign of their respect and they, together with workers throughout the region in addition to 300,000 Royal Mail employees across Britain marked a two-minute silence at noon as the funeral service got underway.

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McColgan was buried in Carnmoney cemetery after a service at the Star of the Sea Church in nearby Whitehouse.

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor, the Most Rev. Patrick Walsh, said the huge turnout was "a striking witness to the sense of revulsion and horror felt across the entire community at his callous murder."

"Daniel was singled out for murder for one reason, and one reason only, that he was a Catholic," he added.

The sorting office was closed after staff said they were too frightened to work for fear of attack.

It will remain closed until the loyalist death threat hanging over them is lifted.

A special meeting of the union's executive will be held in London on Thursday to discuss the crisis.

A minute's silence was held at the Northern Ireland Assembly on Monday and politicians went into an emergency meeting to discuss the deteriorating situation in the city.

Security will remain tight at schools in north Belfast in response to a threat from loyalist paramilitaries to kill Catholic teachers.

Irish Secretary of State John Reid described the paramilitaries waging war against the most vulnerable people in Northern Ireland as a cowardly minority.

Reid said: "It was a postman on Saturday. It could be any public servant or any worker tomorrow."

"The cowardly war which is being waged by a small minority is clearly aimed at putting a stop to normal life, potential political progress and preventing Northern Ireland returning to civilized normality."

Trade union leaders have called a half-day stoppage throughout the region on Friday in protest at the murder.

A two-minute silence was held at workplaces on Tuesday to coincide with the funeral.

First Minister David Trimble branded the murder of McColgan as "reprehensible".

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, who met Reid at Hillsborough, claimed the government was not doing enough to confront loyalist paramilitaries.

Adams added: "There is a marked reluctance to face up to the UDA because there is a different attitude to violence when it comes from loyalists and because many of those involved in that organisation are in the pay of the British government."