The rally, organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Northern Ireland Committee (ICTU-NIC), coincided with the funeral for Black, who was murdered by dissident republicans while driving to work the previous Thursday.

At 1 pm the crowd fell silent and a lone piper played the lament.

Peter Bunting, from the ICTU-NIC, said that the rally was held “to show our abhorrence against dissident republican violence, or indeed violence from any other quarter.”

He went on: “Evil prospers when good people do nothing. Therefore the trade union movement will stand in solidarity with the Black family and workers irrespective of who they are or who they are under threat from.”

Prospect members from BT, National Trust and Applied Energy Services were among those present at the vigil.

Paul Stewart, National Trust branch president, said: “Those that carried out this murder have no mandate and no strategy. They will achieve nothing and they know it, yet they hide behind political rhetoric and use the language of the left as an excuse to vent their psychopathic instincts.”

He added: “This vigil sends a message to those from any quarter who carry out murder, regardless of their political agenda, that the working people of this country view them as an abomination.

“The pointless devastation to the lives of their victims and families achieves nothing but heartbreak.”