Extramural Activity

On The Way To The Shops

2022-09-152025-01-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

There are nine gable walls along Clanmorris Avenue, Whitehill (Bangor) which – more importantly – can be seen from the South Circular Road approaching the Bloomfield shopping centre. On many of these walls “UVF reserved” has now appeared, even on the one that recently acquired a UDA board (see third image, below). Above: a small “UVF pilgrims” board; bottom: “RIP GFA“; in between: “The media is the virus”.

Previously: Booked | Reserved | A Message From The Board

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Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Those Old Grey Walls Still Firmly Standing

2022-09-142025-01-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The sights and sounds of Irish Street and Londonderry: (clockwise from right) a verse from Londonderry On The Foyle (youtube) in a frame of the walls of the city of Derry – “But once more I’m coming home aboard a steamship/On Lough Foyle once more I’m passing by Culmore/And I see those old grey walls still firmly standing/There ’round my city Londonderry on the Foyle”; East Bank (Irish Street) Protestant Boys (Fb) on parade; Carson and the signing of the 1912 Covenant; St Columb’s Cathedral; Irish Street FC (Fb).

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X11031 X11032 Strule Gardens

Republican Prisoners Still Exist!

2022-09-132025-01-07Extramural Activity1 Comment

“Foremost in my tortured mind is the thought that there can never be peace in Ireland until the foreign, oppressive British presence is removed, leaving all the Irish people as a unit to control their own affairs and determine their own destinies as a sovereign people, free in mind and body, separate and distinct physically, culturally and economically.” The quote is from day one of Bobby Sands’s hunger strike diary (March 1st, 1981) and the photograph is a 2007 image of a cell in the H-4 (Irish Times).

“Maghaberry – Portlaoise – Hydebank. Republican prisoners still exist!” IRPWA (web) board on Divis St, Belfast, replacing the Sands & Hughes mural – see Caırde Agus Comrádaıthe.

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Armed And Ready

2022-09-122025-01-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is an example of a paramilitary mural replacing a cultural one – for eight years there was a giant Union Flag on this Westwinds gable, but it has been turned into a giant hooded UVF gunman instead.

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Bill Of Shame

2022-09-112025-01-07Extramural Activity1 Comment

A rally against the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy And Reconciliation) Bill takes place later today, congregating at City Hall after marching from three locations around the city (the McGurks Bar memorial in north Belfast), Divis tower in west Belfast, and Cromac Square near the Markets. The Bill passed the House Of Commons in July despite criticism from all sides, including the DUP, Alliance, and the SDLP – Colm Eastwood called it “shameful” and a “whitewash” (Breaking News). One criticism of the bill is that the body it would establish (the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery) must not place at risk the national security of the UK, which is taken to mean protection for UK government officials (Irish Central). It is also thought not to be compliant with the Human Rights Act (ITV
| BelTel).

The rally is organised by the Time For Truth campaign (web).

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X11452 Limestone Road

Andrew Cairns

2022-09-102025-01-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Andrew Cairns of the UVF was chased and beaten by about a dozen people before being killed by a single shot to the head (BBC). The killing took place next to the burning Boyne Square bonfire and the memorial (shown below) is on the other side of the bonfire site. Sutton attributes the killing to the UDA (Sutton); the Sunday Mirror reported that the killer was rejected by the UDA and was a member of the LVF (Free Library); see also BelTel | Guardian. One of the accused (Irish Times) was later UDA South East Antrim chief (BelTel).

Cairns was included in an old UVF mural, also in Wellington Green.

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T02378 T02379 courtesy of Paddy Duffy 2023

Defund The Police

2022-09-092025-06-10Extramural Activity1 Comment

These are new IRSP (web) boards along the Falls Road, opposite the leisure centre and below the IRA memorial garden, highlighting two of the organisation’s most pressing concerns: the PSNI and housing.

“The deadly web of corruption: Funding Scams, Sectarianism, MI5 Special Branch, Internment by Remand, Diplock Non-Jury Courts, Political Policing, Public Interest Immunity Certificates, Collusion/Coverups”,” “Defund – disarm – disband”

“Drop the rents – west Belfast demands affordable housing and an end to landlord exploitation.”

“96% of Divis residents do no support the PSNI” was seen previously and “Divis ’81” replaces the 40th anniversary hunger strike board, also seen previously – see For A Socialist Republic.

August 2021 graffiti reserving the spots:

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Kieran Abram

2022-09-092025-01-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here are two new boards in the fast-growing gallery on the Falls Road below the IRA memorial garden – with three more spots ‘reserved’ for Cogús and the IRSP.

The first is to Kieran Abram. In the early hours of July 5th, 1992, Kieran Abram was knocked to the ground and kicked to death by loyalists in running battles with nationalists on North Howard Street, near the old British Army sangar. Four people were convicted of manslaughter in the case (Judiciary NI).

The second is to PIRA volunteer Charlie Hughes, who was killed in 1971 in the feud with the OIRA. (For more, see The Struggle Continues.)

Saoırse Go Deo

2022-09-082025-01-07Extramural Activity1 Comment

The 1918 ‘Representation Of The People’ act gave 8.4 million women in the United Kingdom the right to vote (WP). (For the two women on the left holding the ‘Votes For Women’ sign, see Women’s Hall And Cost-Price Restaurant.) In that same year, Countess Constance Markievicz was the first woman elected to Westminster and became Sınn Féın Minister For Labour in the first Dáıl Éıreann that was established as an alternative. Ten years earlier, she had co-founded Na Fıanna Éıreann with Bulmer Hobson. The names of Derry fianna are listed on the right. “Fuaır sıad bás ar son saoırse na hÉıreann.” (This board replaces the former Fianna mural that celebrated the centenary in 2009.)

To the left is a “Join RSYM” stencil with the names of the ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers; to the right is a picture of the memorial across the street to the dead of the 3rd battalion of the Doıre Brigade Óglaıgh na hÉıreann.

“But while Ireland is not free I remain a rebel, unconverted and unconvertible. There is no word strong enough for it. I am pledged as a rebel to the one thing – a free and independent republic.”

“Ach a fhad is nach bhfuıl Éıre saor, seasfaıdh mé an fód mar cheannaırceach, gan géılleadh, gan athrú. Níl focal dá bhfuıl atá chumhachtach go leor. Tá gealltanas tugtha agam mar cheannaırceach, cuspóır amháın a chur ı gcrích – poblacht shaor agus neamhspleach.”