This house-front on the Shore Road is a mix of union flags and Christmas decorations. The centre-piece states that the resident is “Proud To Be British”.
The industrial high-point of Belfast, according to this mural, would seem to be when people travelled on trams, cloth was woven by hand, and Titanic sat in dry dock. Only the Shorts-Bombardier aircraft confuses the nostalgia.
A Post Office box on the Falls Road that’s green, has a Free Marian Price sticker on it, and has a letter-only aperture to prevents parcel-bombs, pipe-bombs, etc. being inserted
Another union jack, this time on the Shore Road, next to a banner boasting that Crusaders (featured previously 1 | 2) are “All Ireland Champions 2012”, having won the Setanta cup (WP). “Setanta” is Cúchulainn’s original name; Setanta sports-television business based in Dublin (WP).
Seasonal greeting in support of Republican political prisoners – with candles at base – in Northumberland St. This is the centre part of a wider mural-board composite – left and right shots below.
The “Nollaıg shona” and board in the picture just above together replace the previous “human rights” mural; the area below the “doors” hoarding, where the phoenix now appears, was previously blank.
Here is a board bearing Carson’s image, on the Newtownards Road at Welland Street, opposite the junction with the Albertbridge Road, below a banner to East Belfast Protestant Boys. Carson also appears in a variety of other murals concerning the Ulster Covenant and the threat of Home Rule.
Protests over the December 3rd vote not to fly the union jack every day at Belfast City Hall continued last night (2012-12-17 — video from BBC-NI | U.tv). The image above shows a flag flying on the loyalist side framed by the pedestrian gate on Northumberland Street. The image below shows one shot across the Cupar Way “peace” line, from Conway Street.
“We in Ulster will tolerate no Sinn Féin but we tell you this – that if, having offered you our help, you are yourselves unable to protect us from the machinations of Sinn Féin, and you won’t take our help; we tell you, we will take the matter into our own hands …. ” A quote from Sir Edward Carson (probably, 12th of July, 1920 rather than 1912 – Treason Felony | RTÉ) replaces the previous “free men” quote (see M03378); the poppies between the emblems in the main panel are also new, as is the plinth the hooded gunmen are standing on, which reads “1912 East Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force” (also, “1981 Gareth Keys 2008″). In other words, the mural has been softened (slightly) by adding historical elements.
We’ve mentioned before the efforts of Belfast City Council to remove or paint out graffiti and flyers, and here is one of the gentlemen whose task that is. He and his mate get a print-out each morning of where the most lewd, sectarian, awful scripts are in the city and off they go with brushes, power-hoses, hot water, cold water and so on. Once they have taken care of the graffiti for the day, they turn to chewing gum. They have two methods of removing gum from pavements, one hot — for winter time — another cold — for summer.