“Merry Christmas from the loyalist Village – fuck the protocol – FGAU”.
More recent anti-Protocol graffiti – see Peace Or Protocol – and posters – A Return To Violence (for most background) and Political Leaders Are Not Listening.
Glenmachan Street, Belfast, just below Frenchpark Street.
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Here is a second set of images showing the “peace or protocol” poster that has appeared in PUL areas in the city, three in east Belfast – along the Newtownards Road. Two others in north Belfast were seen previously in A Return To Violence, which also explains the poster.
For the murals along “Freedom Corner” see 50th Anniversary; for the black-and-white mural, see Please Pay Here. See also Choose One Or The Other.
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Gertrude Street no longer exists – it was just east of where Wolff Close now is. But the Gertrude Street Defenders LOL 525 (Fb) brought back a former lodge (Lees Temperance/East Belfast Orange) March 2017, with former members of the Gertrude Star flute band (News Letter). For the five-flowered board on the right, see The Flax And The Lily. This pair of boards is on the courtyard fencing around the Westbourne Glentoran Supporters Club, off the Newtownards Road in the old Solway Street.
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The young people of Sunnylands (Carrickfergus) are encouraged to “follow your dreams”. On the left, a young man dreams of being a film-maker; on the right, a young woman dreams of being a cosmetician. There is also a lot of soccer: Leeds United, The Northern Ireland team, Glasgow Rangers (“55“), and Carrickfergus Rangers are all included. Follow the example of Scooby Doo, who “don’t doo drugs” and celebrate the centenary of Northern Ireland by “chill”ing in your Orange Order sash on the bonfire (seen previously in Stop Sign).
With support from Communities In Transition and Intercomm (Fb).
Unveiled August 22, 2021 (tw | Fb)
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“Geraldine Connon [web] – Geraldine is a well renowned fashion designer based in Larne. She has created this piece inspired by the Games of Thrones and Larne’s Ulster Scots Heritage. Geraldine used Irish linen in the tasel [sic], mesh within the helmet, and created the neck cuff from black feathers representing a crow. Crows are iconic in the TV series. The yellow and black tartan skirt brings in the Ulster Scots element to the piece. The image was photographed by fashion photographer Mitchell Cahoon [ig].”
The official name of the outfit is “Valentine”. This is another of the Game Of Thrones-inspired pieces in Larne town centre – Lower Quay St in this case – sponsored by the Mid & East Antrim Council, with Larne Renovation Generation (Fb) and the Traders Forum (BelTel | News Desk | Fb video). See previously: Larne – The Original Tourist Resort | The Battle Of Ulfreksfjord | Dire Wolf.
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“PSNIRA Out” graffiti below the Holiday Inn in Sandy Row, Belfast.
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“Think before you drink” – broken bottles, broken loves, and broken lives in Seymour Hill. Help can be sought from the organisations on the adjacent board: FRANK, ASCERT, Community Addiction Team, FASA, and Daisy.
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“Londonderry west bank loyalists” are “still under siege”, at first from two decades of “Republican violence” – “Between 1971 and 1991 the Protestant population of the Cityside declined by 83.4% as a result of Republican violence (Shirlow et al. 2005)” – hence the boarded- and dressed-up windows – and now from the “PSNI”.
(The words “as a result of Republican violence” are not included in the Shirlow article).
Fountain Street and Hawkin Street, in the Fountain, Londonderry.
Update: the wall was returned to its plain appearance by 2023-02-14 – see the final image, below
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“Where so ever, how so ever or whenever we are called upon to make our exit, we will do as proud men.” This is quite a different message from the one produced within the Rathcoole estate for the 50th anniversary of the Red Hand Commandos, which stated that despite its venerable age, the four Rathcoole companies of the RHC “Await In The Shadows“. (That mural also depicted the kneeling men with sticks (on the left of today’s mural) and the linked post also contains the original photograph.)
It’s not clear who or what within loyalism might call upon the RHC to stand down; loyalist rhetoric at the moment is full of anger at the protocol and warnings/threats about of a return to violence (e.g. BelTel | BBC).
For the use of “Lamh Dear Abu” as the slogan, see Ulster Says “Tá”.
O’Neill Road, Newtownabbey.
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Following yesterday’s east Belfast “Peace or proticol” graffiti, today we have “Peace or protocol – it’s your decision”, aimed at Leo Varadkar on the day that he again became Taoiseach (Irish Times) and repeating his words back to him from a speech in 2018: “The possibility of a return to violence is very real”. At that meeting, Varadkar was anticipating violence by anti-Agreement republicans in response to customs posts on the Ireland-Northern Ireland border, and brought a newspaper describing the death of four customs officials, two lorry drivers, and three IRA volunteers at a Monaghan post in 1972 (BelTel).
The authors of this poster are not known, but the parallel statement (mutatis mutandis) would be that anti-Protocol agents – perhaps the “young loyalists” that the UVF “can no longer contain” (UK Daily; see also RTÉ from November) – might return to acts of violence such as the 1974 “Dublin & Monaghan Bombings” that killed 33 people – in the background of the poster is part of a photograph (Irish News) of bomb damage in Talbot Street – if the Protocol’s “Irish Sea border” is not removed.
The instance of the poster shown in today’s post is on the edge of Tiger’s Bay, on North Queen Street; the posters have also been appearing in east Belfast: Newtownards Rd (at Templemore Ave tw; at Dee St tw) | Beersbridge Rd (reddit).
A group called Let’s Talk Loyalism greeted the new premier with a mock funeral in Dublin for the Good Friday Agreement; the flowers behind the coffin read “GFA is dead” (tw).
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Extramural Activity 