This poster, which is all over the lower Falls, is in response to recent Gerry Adams interviews, one with Peter Taylor, in which he told dissidents to “Go away”, and aninterview with Andrew Marr where Adams said that the IRA is gone: “We are not going anywhere, Gerry. 32 [county Ireland] or nothing … the IRA.”
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CR gas, along with CS, VX and other chemical agents, was developed at the MoD lab in Porton Down, and authorised and available for use from 1973 onwards against prisoners in Long Kesh (Guardian). Jim McCann was in Long Kesh during the ‘Battle Of Long Kesh’, when republican prisoners attempted to burn down the cages in which they were being kept in protest at conditions in the camp (An Phoblacht). His memoir, And The Gates Flew Open (An Ceathrú Póilí), continues the campaign by him and other prisoners to get the British to admit that the gas was used on inmates during the riot. The book was launched last month in the Cultúrlann.
In the lower left corner is a quoted telegram from Fr. Denis Faul, Fr. Raymond Murray: “To international Red Cross … Visited Long Kesh today with others … Request immediate investigation into use of CR gas … sub-human conditions … SOS … come immediately …” 20 Oct. 1974. These two wrote an 80-page report on the conditions at the camp following the event, entitled The Flames Of Long Kesh.
For more information, see the post on the similar 2014 mural that marked the 40th anniversary of the battle. For in-progress shots, see yesterday’s post.
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Here are two in-progress shots of a new mural depicting the Battle Of Long Kesh in 1974. We will have images of the completed mural, and background, tomorrow.
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Here is an update to the mural of Gaeılgeoır, 1916 Volunteer, and hunger-striker Tomás Aghas/Thomas Ashe at the top of the Whiterock Road: a Maid Of Erin harp – familiar from the crest of 1798’s United Irishmen – has been added to the background.
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A “blue plaque” has been erected on the front of the Shankill Methodist church (on the Shankill at Berlin Street) to Saidie Patterson “trade unionist and peace activist”. In 1940 she led a seven-week strike to improve conditions and pay in Ewart’s linen mill on the Crumlin Road, where she had been working since age 14. As noted on the plaque, she was the first winner of the World Methodist Peace Prize (in 1977) – Allan McCullough has a photo of Patterson with her medal (the one in the middle). The plaque was unveiled on International Women’s Day 2018. (Irish News | Bel Tel | BBC-NI)
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In addition to their Easter parade in April (Irish News) and large hoarding celebrating Charlie Hughes and Leila Khaled at the corner of Northumberland Street, IRA D Company’s presence in Divis now includes a cut-out assault rifle and tricoloured “IRA” mounted on the light pole.
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From yesterday’s Ordinary People, Extraordinary Roles, here are the three individual plaques to Trevor King, Frenchie Marchant, and Davy Hamilton, three UVF volunteers killed at or near the junction of Spier’s Place and the Shankill Road. The poetic verse (in the wide shot) is from Siegfried Sassoon’s Suicide In The Trenches.
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“This plaque is dedicated to the memory of Lieutenant Colonel Trevor King, died 9th July 1994, Major William (Frenchie) Marchant, died 28th April 1987, Volunteer David Hamilton, Died 17th June 1994. These brave men died near this spot [the corner of Spier’s Place and Shankill Road, west Belfast] by the enemies of Ulster. No sacrifice is too great for one’s country. They paid the ultimate sacrifice. ‘They shall grow not old/as we that are left grow old/Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn/At the going down of the sun and in the morning/We will remember them.’” King and Hamilton (along with Colin Craig, an RUC informer and not included on the plaque) were shot by the INLA and died of their wounds three weeks and one day later. Frenchie Marchant (in the middle of the image above) was shot by the IRA outside The Eagle chip shop.
For the individual plaques, see A Fisherman, An Entertainer, A Shankill Road Man.
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The Irish Republican Prisoners Committee (IRPC) is currently without any web or social-media presence, but it recently mounted this board in Northumberland Street, Belfast. As with all post-Agreement murals for republican prisoners, it uses only barbed wire and not the lark.
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Action Against Drugs (AAD) is a anti-drugs organisation of former IRA members and perhaps using IRA weapons. The ‘recruitment’ graffiti and warning to drug-dealers shown above is at the junction of Albert Street and Divis Street in west Belfast.
For more in the graffiti war against dealers, see 2017’s U’ll Do Nottin! and 2018’s Drug Dealers Will Be Shot.
For the mental health board, see Keep Ahead With Your Mental Health.
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Extramural Activity 