Arlene Foster yesterday repeated her demand that the Chief Constable of the PSNI Simon Byrne resign over the DPP’s decision not to pursue any prosecutions in connection with the Bobby Storey funeral (BelTel). Residents of the Fountain in Londonderry – in a stencil painted before the current rioting – want both of them to step down.
On Dublin Road, on the shutters of what was The Teapot: “No ISB [Irish Sea Border] – SRYL [Sandy Row Young Loyalists, presumably, though there is no trace of this group on-line]” with the target symbol, threatening violence.
2021 is the 110th anniversary of International Women’s Day (web). In 1911 it was observed on March 19th, but since 1914 it has been held annually on March 8th. Free Derry Corner (Visual History) was changed to mark the occasion. In the background Bernadette Devlin is seen “inciting a riot” during the Battle Of The Bogside – as the charges against her read; she served six months.
“DUP Out” – another expression of discontent at how Brexit is affecting Northern Ireland and the DUP’s role in the negotiations. See previously: Arlene Must Go. For the mural, see Welcome To The Shankill Road.
“Ulster sold out – time to fight”. The DUP’s Sammy Wilson declared the party would “fight guerilla warfare” against the ‘Northern Ireland Protocol’ which caused Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg to beseech them to “work through the democratic processes” (Irish Times). This graffiti is on Church Road, Newtownabbey.
Vintage graffiti in Elswick Street, west Belfast, commenting on the quality of matériel available to Óglaigh na hÉireann and perhaps a specific reference to the discovery of an arms dump in woods near Dunleer (Guardian). [Update: for context see GAABoard; hat tip to ejsalty] The group disbanded in 2018, with a new group – the Irish Republican Movement – vowing to fight on (Irish News).
“The battles we refuse to fight today becomes the hardships our children must endure tomorrow.” We have amassed here five additional graffiti from “lower north Belfast” saying “No to an Irish Sea border”. Some operations at Larne and Belfast docks were suspended for over a week after reports – which police eventually did not deem credible – of threats made against employees and number plates being recorded (BBC timeline of events).
Lower north Belfast is the residential areas between the Antrim Road and the motorway/docks – York Road and Shore Road from Tigers Bay to Mount Vernon and north into Loughside and Graymount.
The long-term extent of disruption to goods entering Northern Ireland, caused by Brexit, remains unclear: some fresh veg and cheeses are missing from supermarkets and Amazon has stopped shipping alcohol. The problem of businesses no longer shipping at all seems to be more troublesome than delays in goods shipped. DUP leader Arlene Foster caused confusion and satirical comment on twitter yesterday for her remarks that nationalists were suffering delayed parcels along with unionists (Irish Times), though graffiti such as is shown here – calling for the scrapping of the “Northern Ireland Protocol” – has so far been painted only in PUL areas.
