physical force

Murdered By Cowards

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“In loving memory of Taughmonagh residents Brian McMillan, Alan ‘Rocky’ Meehan, Dennis Berrty (Sgt UDA), Thomas Vance (2 Para), Thomas Douglas. Murdered by cowards during the conflict in Northern Ireland. Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us every day.”

McMillan and Meehan were civilians shot along with TA staff sergeant (and English Catholic) Joseph Flemming on July 9th, 1972.

Dennis Berry was shot by the UVF after leaving the UDA social club in Taughmonagh. According to Lost lives, “Reliable loyalist sources said the shooting was the result of a personal row rather than having any political or organisational basis.” (p. 441)

Thomas Vance died in the IRA’s 1979 ambush of the British Army at Narrow Water Castle, near Warrenpoint (WP), on the same day that Louis Mounbatten was killed. (Republican mural)

Thomas Douglas was shot while walking along the street. His family denied he was a leading loyalist and simply a member of the Orange Order (CAIN | Fb).

This plaque has been added to the UDA memorial garden in Taughmonagh (at the corner of Finbank Gardens & Malfin Drive).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04962

The Grey Wolf

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Tucked away at the end of Ashfield Crescent in north Belfast is the Dunmore base – there is another in Coleraine – of the North Irish Horse (web | Fb), a light cavalry reconnaissance unit of the British Army. It was originally created in 1902; after recent restructuring, it comes under the command of the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04943 X04942 X04944

Same Aim – Different Name

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

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.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04934

32 Or Nothing

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

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.”

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04953 X04961

Battle Of Long Kesh

Extramural Activity1 Comment

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.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04958 X04961 X04959 X04960 divis st

The Battle Of Long Kesh

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

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.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04949 X04950 X04951 X04950 divis st

Thomas Ashe

Extramural Activity1 Comment

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.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04936 X04935

Battle Of The Markets

Extramural Activity1 Comment

Internment (imprisonment without trial) was introduced on August 9th, 1971 by NI Prime Minister Brian Faulkner, with 342 people arrested on the first day. The Bogside was “hysterical with hated”, according to Eamonn McCann (History Ireland) and of Belfast Kevin Myers wrote “Insanity seized the city.” Two dozen people would die in the rioting and gun-battles that followed, leading to the suspension of Stormont rule (WP). In the Markets area, OC Joe McCann and other (Official) IRA volunteers took over the Inglis bakery and reportedly prevented 600 British troops from entering the area – the image to the left of the board above is a Ciaran Donnelly photograph showing McCann during the battle, kneeling beneath a Starry Plough and holding an M1.

For information on his death the following year, see Joe McCann.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04933 soldier of the people erected by the official republican movement

Wings Appeal

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Royal Air Forces Association’s ‘Wings Appeal’ has been raising money to support Air Force members and their families since 1951 (RAFA). This bed of flowers in the pattern of the Air Force’s red, white, and blue roundel (the reverse of the French roundel) is at the start of the Antiville Road in Larne.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04897

No Unauthorised Parking

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

An IRA man in beret and sunglasses puts the frighteners on non-patients tempted to avail themselves of the Clifton Street Surgery car-park.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04915