Hillview is the – currently vacant – 11-acre area on the Crumlin Road between Woodvale and Ardoyne, formerly the site of a Dunnes store. In August of 2017 the City Council voted to allow the site to be redeveloped as a shopping centre (Belfast Live | BelTel). The possibility of using the site for housing has been pressed by PPR (see Lidl On Quality and various Build Homes Now posts); the tarp shown above is sponsored by Saoradh, who took up the cause in September.
The International Wall on Divis Street draws coach-loads of tourists every day (“tens of thousands” according to Sinn Féin’s Fra McCann). A new IRSP board affixed to the top of the ‘magic lantern’ mural (see Spreading The Word) warns visitors to take precautions. “Community notice: thieves are operating in this area. Please make sure your valuables are secure and out of sight. Respect our community and visitors. Cease this activity!” Here are articles about the Divis Hoods Liberation Army (DHLA) from 2017 and 2016.
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was reformed in 2001 as the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), as recommended by the Patten Commission. This Saoradh (web | Fb | tw) tarp in Hugo Street questions the extent to which the force has changed. The traditional RUC officer in bullet-proof vest is on the left; the modern officer on the right is more heavily protected. In the centre, the PSNI emblem overlays the old RUC one, with Stormont in the background.
For the board celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, see versions in Andersonstown| Ardoyne | St James.
Here are the two low walls along Freedom Corner in east Belfast. Above, “The Ulster conflict is about nationality – this we shall maintain” using flags as identifiers: the Ulster banner for Northern Ireland, the St George Cross for England, the Union Flag for the UK, St Andrew’s Saltire for Scotland, and Baner Cymru for Wales. The previous version used flowers and the red hand – see Daffodil Nation.
Below, “Loyalist east Belfast” between the Ulster Banner and Union Flag.
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.”
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.
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.
Here is another in an occasional series of “RIP” graffiti to local people, this time in south Belfast’s Village neighbourhood: “RIP Grandpa – love from John”. Previously: Jamie and Kev | Caomhan, Punk, and Butt.
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.
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)
Extramural Activity 