Republican graffiti in Meenan Square, Derry hearkening back to a 1970s poster (revived earlier in 2016 in this Belfast poster on the International Wall) cautioning people against undercover British agent and touts.
Two pieces by TLO. Above, “Have you seen Duppy?” Ian Paisley Jnr gets a strange mouse make-over, with a pink nose and Irish harp ears. Below, a sprung skull.
Charter NI chief executive Dee Stitt returned to work on Wednesday after a three-week holiday following controversial remarks that a Bangor flute band (the North Down Defenders) provided “homeland security” for the area and that he was the big man in the area. (The remarks were included in this Guardian video, starting at 7m 22s. For more on the UDA in north Down, see this Tele article.) Many have called for his resignation, including Jeffrey Donaldson of the DUP (Irish News), though the Charter NI board, who conducted an internal review, did not fire him. At least one of the local people in east Belfast was already unhappy with the organization this summer, when the graffiti above was sprayed in Beechfield Street.
The bus turnaround at the entrance to Taughmonagh estate has been turned into a Somme Garden (see the third image, below). The “Welcome to Taughmonagh” sign at entrance has been covered over with a Union flag board with “Taughmonagh remembers” and the three figures in the sculpture in the middle have each been given a union jack cap.
The night before he was executed for his part in the Easter Rising, republican leader James Connolly (5.6.1888-12.5.1916) penned a brief statement calling the British presence in Ireland “a usurpation and a crime against human progress” and declaring “The British government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, never can have any right in Ireland”. Here are two images of Free Derry corner with Connolly’s quote, including The Petrol Bomber by the Bogside Artists and and “SFRY” (Sinn Féin Republican Youth) banner on the railings.
Carrickfergus United Loyalists portray Peter Robinson, Mike Nesbitt, and Theresa Villiers as the three monkeys who “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”. The evil that they fail to recognize is the oppression of Orange culture in the form of the blocked 2013 parade at the Ardoyne shops. The march was completed and the protest camp dismantled on October 1st. (NewsLetter) The phrase “graduated response” comes from the Unionist response to the collapse of 2014 talks. (Irish News)
The experts’ best guess is that the gentleman on the white horse (on the right of the painting) is James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, at the siege of Maastricht in 1673. Scott was commander of the English forces fighting with the French during the Franco-Dutch war. It’s not clear, thus, what the connection is to the Antiville area of Larne or the wars fought in Ireland over the English crown. It was painted by Jan Wyck, who also did a painting of the Battle of the Boyne. On either side (as shown below) are a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the English version of the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom.
This trio of boards has been added to a wall behind the Antiville community centre, softening (somewhat) a very aggressive set of six UDA boards (seen in UDA Flag Bearer and Secret Army Silhouettes.)
The four banners shown above are on the front of the Rebels’ Rest in west Belfast: “Cothaıgh meon na saoırse/Nurture the spirit of freedom”, “Decolonise your mind”, “Welcome to west Belfast, poverty capital of the six counties”, and (visible below) “PSNI/MI5/British Army not welcome in this area” (one of several of these boards placed in various republican areas – the one at the end of the International Wall is included below). For previous stencils from 2014, see The Rebel’s Rest.