The Sinn Fein lord mayor of Belfast has held a reception for the Royal British Legion in recognition of the dead of the two world wars and other conflicts.

It has been a tradition that the lord mayor attends the legion's Remembrance Sunday ceremony when people across the UK pay tribute to the fallen.

But Alec Maskey will be leading a trade delegation to China on behalf of the council on 10 November when the legion's ceremony is to be held this year.

Mr Maskey instead invited the legion members to the reception at Belfast city hall and he said the guest list had been drawn up by the veterans' organisation.

'Anti-sectarian ethos'

He said he hoped to continue talking to the legion about other initiatives.

The election of Belfast's first Sinn Fein mayor this year was controversial for unionist councillors who have refused to participate in electing a deputy lord mayor to work alongside him.

In July, Mr Maskey declined to take part in the traditional Somme Commemoration at City Hall.

But in a move which surprised some, he did lay a wreath in honour of the war dead at the Cenotaph accompanied by other Sinn Fein councillors.