The Republican Network For Unity (RNU) affirm their solidarity with Palestine over the recent deaths during the March Of Return (see also His Land, His Legs, His Life) with a new mural showing an Israeli hand smothering a Palestinian face. Here is the RNU’s statement on the recent deaths in Gaza. “RNU in west Belfast” and “End internment” are from the ‘Free Tony Taylor’ mural that this board covers over.
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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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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.
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It is usually the fourth verse from Laurence Binyon’s poem For The Fallen that is quoted on memorial stones to the fallen of the WWI but here we have the third verse: They went with songs to the battle, they were young/Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow/They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted/They fell with their faces to the foe. The stone commemorates “the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division who gave their lives for King and country at the Battle of the Somme 1st July – 18th November 1916”. It is in the garden adjacent to the West Kirk Presbyterian church (Fb) on the Shankill Road. As the image below shows, the garden is also host to many small boards to individual soldier (see previously Among The Fallen | XXXVI | The Sacrifice Remains The Same).
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The International Wall on Divis Street draws coach-loads of tourists every day (“tens of thousands” according to Sinn Féin’s Fra McCann). A new IRSP board affixed to the top of the ‘magic lantern’ mural (see Spreading The Word) warns visitors to take precautions. “Community notice: thieves are operating in this area. Please make sure your valuables are secure and out of sight. Respect our community and visitors. Cease this activity!” Here are articles about the Divis Hoods Liberation Army (DHLA) from 2017 and 2016.
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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.
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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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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.
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Here are five more small boards from the Village. Above is a one to the memory of soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) Division lost in WWI; the remainder refer to the modern UVF, though all of them include poppies, suggesting that they are memorial in intent and so less menacing than yesterday’s hooded gunman in Welcome To The Village.
Also, previously: Village UVF | A Hive Of Glass| For God And Ulster
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Small boards (the same size as the Poppy Trail individual commemorative boards, as in XXXVI) have been erected at most of the street corners along Broadway in the Village area of south Belfast. Many are UVF emblems but this one of a hooded gunman aiming at the viewer is a remarkable return to openly paramilitary imagery in the neighbourhood.
See also South Belfast Volunteers | A Hive Of Glass | Village UVF | For God And Ulster
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These three (reproduction) advertisements date to before partition. Thus (on the left) McNeill’s hotel of “Co Antrim, Ireland”, which also transported tourists along the Antrim coastline, promises information on “How to spend a cheap holiday in the north of Ireland”.
On the right is a poster for State Line steamships, which ran services from Glasgow to Liverpool to New Orleans and from Glasgow to Larne to New York (ShipsList).
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Residents of the Markets are challenging a planned 55 million pound high-rise office-block next to Central Station, which they say will overshadow their homes (Irish News). A decision in the case is expected by the end of the month (BelTel)
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Extramural Activity 