physical force

The Way We Were

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02961 2015-08-24 TheWayWeWere+

“The way we were” written on the bog side of the walls of Derry provide a name for this mural behind Derry’s Bogside Inn. The old Rossville flats are in the top left hand corner. (Both Rossville flats and graffiti on the walls – “God made the Catholics, the armalite made us equal” – can be seen in this 1982 image (M00039) from Peter Moloney’s collection.)

In the lower right-hand corner is a “Free Gaza” board that was on the back of Free Derry Corner.

In the lower left-hand corner is a picture of the second version of the “You are now entering Free Derry” writing on the gable wall of 33 Lecky Road.

02828 2015-08-24 TheWayWeWereSide+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02961 X02828 fuck all hoods INLA IRA BRY irish national liberation army bogside republican youth

The Grens

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02787 2015-08-20 BangorTheGrens+

A tarpaulin celebrating the North Down Grenadiers (Fb) flute band has been added above the Red Hand Commando panels on the front of this house in Bangor’s Whitehill neighbourhood. (Compare the image above to M06398.) The emblems of both groups are very similar, featuring a red hand with wings. As well as the RHC emblem on the front gate, there is also a stone on the left dedicated to D. Company volunteers.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02787 Audentes fortuna iuvat – fortune favors the brave at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them in memory of our fallen volunteers north down brigade D. Company lest we forget red hand wings star

Have They Gone Away?

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03089 2015-10-04 Welcome To Loyalist Lower Shankill+

The South Belfast UDA this week issued a statement that they “won’t be leaving any stage whilst republicans of any faction still exist”. As the Newsletter article notes, the South Belfast branch of the UDA does not speak for the whole organization. Until confirmed, then, the new mural above – “Welcome to the loyalist Lower Shankill – UDA 2nd Batt. C. Coy” – provides only circumstantial evidence …

Elsewhere: Join the South East Antrim UDA: Glenfield Community Association.

Update (2015-10-16): Similar statement from “IRA commanders” BelfastLive | Irish Mirror

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
quis separabit UFF UYM X03089

Always Remembered

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02773 2015-08-17 NorthDownUFF+

UFF/UDA/UYM (North Down, 2nd battalion, D company) memorial mural in Bloomfield estate, Bangor, to Andrew McIlvenny and Roy Officer, with hooded gunmen on a bed of poppies flanking the UFF clenched fist.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02773 terrae filius quis separabit

Three-In-One

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02792 2015-08-20 HolywoodUDAUFFUYM+

This trio of Ulster Defence Association, Ulster Freedom Fighters, and Ulster Young Militants boards are in Holywood, County Down. The overtly paramilitary UFF acts as the link between the others, in that the UDA and UYM emblems appear in miniature alongside its own. The UFF slogan “Ferriens tego” is missing from its board. The local troop is the North Down 2nd Batt. D Coy.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02792 quis separabit terrae filius

Foyle Daycare

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02825 2015-08-24 OrangeSeigeFoyleDaycare+

The “Little Blooms” receive a lecture in history and politics each day as they mount the painted kerb-stones and take in a mural of Orange Order flag-bearers and a scene from the Siege of Derry, perhaps of James II demanding the city and being rebuffed with cries of “No surrender”.

02824 2015-08-24 OrangeSeige+

02826 2015-08-24 OrangeSeigeWide+

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X02825 X02824 X02826 painted 2015-06 walls gate Londonderry siege william union jack ulster banner bishop’s gate 18 april 1869 west bank loyalists still under siege

Markers

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02775 2015-08-18 BloomfieldUFF+

Here are three images of small boards in the Bloomfield and Whitehill estates in Bangor, Co. Down: above, one from the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF); below, from the Red Hand Commandos (RHC); and finally, the Ulster Volunteer Force and Young Citizen Volunteers.

02788 2015-08-20 BangorWhitehill+

02789 2015-08-20 BangorWhitehillYCV+

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X02775 X02788 X02789 for god and ulster shamrock red hand

Past Present

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2015-08-17 BangorUVF+

The eagle (of the Red Hand Commando?) pulls back one UVF flag to reveal … an earlier UVF mural. Close-up below.

2015-08-17 BangorUVFDetail+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02767 X02768 ulster for all a. company 1st battalion 1912 YCV for god and ulster ballyree ballyminetragh

On Wings Of Eagles

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2015-08-18 BloomfieldRHCFlag+

Here are three images of Red Hand Commando boards and flags in the Bloomfield estate. They both feature a red hand with eagle’s wings over a six-pointed star and on the flag, the motto (in crude Gaelic) “Lamh Derg Abu” – “Onward, Red Hand” or “Red Hand To Victory”. The loyalist paramilitary group declared an official end to activities in 2007 (BBC-NI) and decommissioned its weapons by 2009.

2015-08-18 BloomfieldRHC+

2015-08-18 BloomfieldRHCWide+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02777 X02776 X02778 lámh dhearg abú

Boundary Stone Of The Temenos

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2015-09-01 UVFBoxAlonecrop+

“UVF” on a red-white-and blue-painted electrical box, the only thing standing in the razed ground where Soudan Street used to be.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02908c