UVF Scottish Brigade Volunteer Scott “Boab” Kerr, from the Govan area of Glasgow and Sons Of The Somme FB (Fb), died in 2015 and is remembered with a plaque on the corner of Beechfield Street in east Belfast.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Castlereagh (4th battalion) UDA memorial garden behind the Bunch Of Grapes has changed over the years from painted murals (M | X) to spray-painted boards (We Forget Them Not) and now again to tarps within red frames. As far as content is concerned, the UFF, LPA (“We forget them not – past and present”) and UYM (“They shall not grow old etc”) remain but Tim Collins – a product of re-imaging – is out (see On That Journey) and Eddie The Trooper is in. The side wall of the pub has also been employed for the first time, with more hooded gunmen (see the third image, below). Two small plaques have been added to the outsides of the memorial wall.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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After a ten year run, the Crusaders FC mural (2010 | 2012) has been reverted (1996 D00711 | 2002 J1204) to a UVF hooded gunman mural.
For the other recent murals, see Respect, heritage, culture and Defending Ulster From Gaelic Attacks.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Consensus ‘Community Restorative Justice/Mediation’ programme (tw) attempts to resolve threats, disputes, and conflicts over anti-social behavior, hate crimes, interface violence, and paramilitary threats in the lower Shankill. With support from the Lower Shankill Community Association (tw) and the SAFE programme.
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Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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This is the bonfire in Edgarstown, Portadown, a month shy of Eleventh Night, when it will be set alight. (The UVF banners will be removed before burning.) Since these images were taken on June 10th, a third “storey” has been added – see the Facebook page.
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Copyright © 2021 squire93@hotmail.com
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Commentary from Tullyally Young Loyalists, who on their Fb page call for the collapse of Stormont and an end to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement: “PSNI Out”, the “Deal [is] off!!” “FTP” is typically “eff the Provos” but here “P” might be “police”.
Previously from TYL: And The Cry Was “No Irish Sea Border”
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Copyright © 2021 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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In April, the Workers’ Party (web | web | tw | Fb | Fb) suffered a leadership challenge and a split in which its sole elected representative – Ted Tynan on Cork county council – left the party (statement). This is only the latest in a long line of splits, going back to the formation of the modern Workers’ Party, from a split in Sinn Féin in 1970 (WP).
“National Commemoration Committee – erected in memory of all those comrades who dedicated their lives for the establishment of a democratic, secular, socialist republic. ‘I have given whatever I had to give for the party, the people of Ireland, and for a better world, but others have given more, much more. Comrades have given their lives’ – Tomás Mac Giolla TD. ‘For the unity of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter.'”
See recently: Secular, Socialist, And Anti-Sectarian
Servia St, west Belfast.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The well-known anti-Home Rule slogan used previously in various PUL murals (see Together We Stand Alone (2010), Female Guardians (2005), Deserted! Well I Can Stand Alone (2004), How Is Freedom Measured? (1989) and Deserted! Well – I Can Stand Alone (1988)) to express a sense of abandonment by Britain and fear of (what would initially be) “Southern Ireland” is found fitting for the present situation, in which Britain – by means of the NI Protocol – is abandoning Northern Ireland to Europe. “No surrender!”
For contrast, the shot below includes the Kitchener’s Own mural to the left: Britain Wants You!
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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In April, UK Defence minister Johnny Mercer resigned/was sacked due to his protestations over the Overseas Operations bill (which passed on April 29th but does not apply to service in NI (BBC)) and the prosecution of two soldiers for a 1972 killing of Joe McCann – they were acquitted (BelTel). Cases against British Army soldier will continue to be investigated, however, unless there is legislation introduced by the British government to deal with “legacy” issues in Northern Ireland. This VASU tarp is next to the Boundary Way waste ground, site of the lower Shankill bonfire. “Support the men who supported & protected us against Sinn Fein IRA – Soldier A-Z.”
See previously: Soldier A-Z.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“A little boy of fifteen years/was chosen thus to die./As a British soldier aimed his gun/And never questioned why!/The shots rang out, the echo[e]s still/Young Danny fell, shoot to kill./They shoot to kill & kill & kill/Oh please God stop them/But no one will.” Danny Barrett was shot and killed on July 9th, 1981 – a day after Joe McDonnell’s death and on evening of the same day as the shooting of Norah McCabe – by a single shot from a British army observation post on top of Ewart’s Mill. The mural in his memory is in Havana Way, close to his Havana Court home, where he had been sitting on a garden wall talking to a friend. For a full account, see Free Ireland or watch video of his sisters in front of the new mural. For the Lawrence/Hammil board in Brompton Road, see Same Story, Same Bigotry.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Extramural Activity 