PUL

Ulster’s Present Defenders

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This is the matching pair to Ulster’s Past Defenders from last week, which featured the B Specials and UDR. Ulster’s Present Defenders are the “undefeated” (“invicta”) UFF, who are shown here taking a sledgehammer to someone’s front door. The quotation on the rights is a modified version of the Declaration of Arbroath: “For as long as one hundred of us remain alive we shall never in anyway consent to submit to the Irish. For it’s not for glory, honour or riches we fight but for freedom alone which no man loses but with his life.” The gunman in the lower right is famous from a mural (M02474) – now gone – in the lower Shankill. Carnany estate, Ballymoney.
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Respect

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Two images today from our Portadown correspondent of the ‘Respect’ mural in the bus shelter (painted November 2018) along with (in the second image, below) the bonfire currently in place in Killicomaine, Portadown, sporting Paratroop flags and an Ulster Banner – to be taken down before lighting.

Copyright © 2019 Dean Weir
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Ulster’s Past Defenders

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“Better to die on your feet, than to live on your knees in an Irish Republic.” The Ulster Special Constabulary was originally divided into three categories A, B, and C but after the 1922 only the B Specials remained as a reserve force for the RUC. The USC was disbanded in 1970 after its controversial behaviour in the riots of 1969, on some occasions failing to protect Catholics and in a few cases joining in with loyalists. It was replaced by the UDR (as a reserve military force), which lasted until 1992 – it was amalgamated with the Royal Irish Rangers to become the Royal Irish Regiment. In Carnany estate, Ballymoney.
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In The Defence Of The Citizens Of Belfast

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The re-developed memorial to the 36th (Ulster) Division along the Shore Road (see previously) now includes the emblems of the 10th and 16th Divisions, as well as a large metal plate “in honour of the brave men and women who served on the Home Front 1939-1945: the Ulster Defence Volunteer Force, the Women’s Voluntary Services, the Auxiliary Fire Service, the Air Raid Precautions Wardens. This memorial is dedicated to the thousands of local people who volunteered during World War II and to the York Road Civil Defence Hall which played a vital role in the defence of the citizens of Belfast.”
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Ready For The Big Parade

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Sandy Row gets ready for 11th Night and the Twelfth with flags and bunting and loyal Orangemen (from lodges 126 and 428) in the windows.
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Soldier F

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“Sandy Row stands with Soldier F” of the Parachute Regiment, who admitted (to the Saville inquiry) firing 13 shots in Derry on Bloody Sunday, and has now been charged with the killings of James Wray and William McKinney. For more information see Stop The Witch-Hunt.
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Billy Hanna

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“William ‘Billy’ Hanna” murdered 21/6/1978. We will remember. Pride Of Ardoyne FB.” On the 40th anniversary of his death, a memorial plaque and cross were mounted at the top of Ardoyne Road to Billy Hanna, founder member of the Pride Of Ardoyne. The word “murdered” is notable. Hanna was shot in an SAS ambush of a PIRA attempt to bomb the Ballysillan post office depot; it is alleged that the SAS snipers opened fire without warning and discharged 170 rounds (An Phoblacht). An alternative interpretation of the event might put the focus instead on Hanna being caught in the crossfire (BBC-NI) or mistaken for an IRA member (Sutton).

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Catch Up With Jesus

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“Catch up with Jesus. Lettuce praise & relish him. Cos he loves me from my head to-ma-toes.” Some delicious puns outside Sandy Row Methodist, McAdam Park.
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No Hedge Trees Or Shit

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With less than a month to go until 11th night, bonfire builders are busy collecting materials for their pyres, but although they want people to “dump wood”, they don’t want to become dumps. Thanks to Dean Weir for this image of the site in the Brownstown estate (Portadown): “Dump wood – no hedge trees or shit.”
Our image of the mural in the background was also provided by Dean: see In Answer To The Echo Of Alarm.
Copyright © 2019 Dean Weir
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Dump Wood, No Shite

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With less than a month to go until 11th night, bonfire builders are busy collecting materials for their pyres, but although they want people to “dump wood”, they don’t want to become dumps. “No shite” is on Lanark Way (west Belfast). For a more articulate list, see previously Stuff We Don’t Need.
The other three images are from the RYL [Roslyn?/Ravenhill? Young Loyalist] bonfire site in Lismore Street (east Belfast). where the “Irish News [is] not welcome” to write stories and take pictures of sites as the controversies surrounding them resurface each year, such as toxic fumes from tyres (see e.g. Tyre-Free Pyre and Tyred Of Your Culture) and state attempts to exchange funds for conditions on fires (see e.g. Culture Before Cash and Real Loyalists Will Never Be Bought).
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