Thousands of public sector workers stage 24-hour strike in Northern Ireland

The mass strike involved approximately 80% of the public sector. Photograph: Mark Marlow/EPA

Thousands of public sector workers have staged pickets and marches across Northern Ireland in the biggest strike in living memory.

The combined action by nurses, teachers, bus drivers, carers, cleaners, civil servants and other sectors brought parts of the region to a standstill on Thursday and raised the stakes in a political crisis that has paralysed devolved government.