Before playing in the Falls Park as part of Féıle in August, Irish-language rap group Kneecap (web) revealed a mural in Hawthorn Street showing a PSNI land-rover on fire next to the phrase “Níl fáılte roımh an RUC [The RUC is not welcome]”.
Outraged responses to the mural have come from all quarters. The line comes from their song C.E.A.R.T.A. (youtube), about making sure the police don’t find the satirically enormous array of drugs – “cóc, speed, Es, agus moll marıjuana” to name only a few – they hope to take at a party: “Seans ar bıth go bhfaıghıdh sıad mo mhála MD/Mar tá cóısır ann anocht ‘s níl fáılte roımh an RUC”.
The Kneecap party and the middle Falls are the latest in a long line of places where the PSNI is not welcome, not just Ardoyne, Divis, and the Bogside (Derry) but also PUL areas the Village, the Shankill, Carrickfergus, Millbrook (Larne), the Caw (Londonderry), and Tullyally (Londonderry).
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