The UDA’s Michael Stone killed three mourners at the funerals of the Gibraltar 3 in Milltown Cemetery in 1988 (16th March). UDA commanders denied that member Michael Stone was acting with their knowledge or approval. This east Belfast mural perhaps is a celebration of his release, under the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, on July 24th, 2000. “His only crime was loyalty.”
The panel on the right reads, “The cold grey mists shall never set on Ulster’s fields/The Victor’s cup shall not be raised unless we yield/Our fighting men shall not retreat or bend the knee/Untill [sic] the day imprisoned souls are all set free.”
“UFF 3rd battalion, E company.” “Welcome to loyalist Tiger’s Bay.”
The tiger was used in a 1988 mural in Hogarth Street/Adam Street without any mention of a flute band or paramilitary gang. The tiger here is flanked by two UDA/UFF gunmen in balaclavas and bomber jackets.
A Red Hand Commando volunteer kneels in a garland of poppies. The quote on the left – “It’s not for glory or riches that we fight but for our people” – is based on the Declaration Of Arbroath and seen also in south Belfast (For Freedom Alone) and in Bangor (Remember Them Who Gave Their All). The Declaration was also used on one of the series of murals that can be seen, in part, to the left of the image above – see Ulster’s Freedom Corner.
The quote on the right – “Ulster’s destiny is in our hands; our grip is tight; we’ll never let go.” – appears to be original to the RHC.
Tower Street, east Belfast, replacing a version that had a solid white background.
Northern Ireland’s first Prime Minister, James Craig, said in 1934, that Stormont was “carrying on a Protestant Government for a Protestant People” (NI Parliamentary Debates), though the phrase has now been transformed into the doubly alliterative “A Protestant parliament for a Protestant people”. In the centre of a long mural at the waste-ground at the top of Mountpottinger Road, people carrying Irish Tricolours tear down the statue to Northern Ireland’s most prominent leader, Sir Edward Carson, that stands outside Stormont, “claiming equality”.
The main issue that has tested the resolve of governments both local and national to the equality declared in the 1998 Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement is Orange Order parading through nationalist areas, such as the Garvaghy Road below Drumcree church in Portadown, and the Ormeau Road in south Belfast.
“Short Strand people support Garvaghy and Ormeau Roads.” On the left: The spectre of intolerance – Drumcree.” Centre: “A Protestant parliament for a Protestant people no more!” On the right “1996: Ormeau residents battered; 1997: Garvaghy residents beaten; 1998: The third reich to march.” and “Fascism lives! in Portadown”.
The piece is next to a hunger-strikers commemoration piece with ten portraits on shaped wooden boards against a painted background with blanket-man Hugh Rooney in the center. Between the two is a “spirit of freedom” lark and the names of the ten deceased 1981 strikers.
In August, 1969, families, mostly Catholic, were driven out and their homes burned in Bombay Street (and surrounding streets), between the Falls and Shankill (RTÉ news report). The defenselessness of the community then is reflected in the urging for “No decommission” in the present. Fıan Gerard McAuley (aged 15) was shot in nearby Waterville Street.
The Woodvale Defence Association (WDA) was the largest of the local associations which merged together in 1971 to form the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the WDA became B company of 2nd battalion (WP).
Both pieces are in Heather Street, Woodvale, west Belfast. Between the two are the words “Ulster Freedom Fighters” in large letters – see D00967.
UDA mural in Avoniel Road showing two hooded gunmen kneel on a free-floating Northern Ireland. Avoniel Road and Dee Street would fall within the territory of 2nd battalion, east Belfast.
This mural is (probably) a companion to the Nelson McCausland book Patrick, Apostle Of Ulster: A Protestant View Of Patrick (Amazon), published in 1997. Here is a 2013 blog post by McCausland that perhaps gives a précis of the book and is in keep with the text in the panel out of shot to the left, which reads, “”All the exciting and glamourous features that tradition has added to Patrick must be removed if we wish to know what he was really like. And yet the historical Saint Patrick is more interesting and more worth studying than all these later gaudy traditions …” Bishop R[ichard]. P[atrick]. C[rosland]. Hanson”
With graffiti reading “had no feet” – a comment on the figure to the left.
A Visual History page details the various appearances of Eddie The Head in his guise as a Red Coat soldier-cum-UDA volunteers. In this Shankill Eddie, he carries an assault rifle and an Ulster Banner as he marches over the graves of “E[ddie] Copeland”, “S[ean] Kelly”, and “S[tephen] Larkin”. The three are IRA volunteers: Kelly, along with Thomas Begley, bombed Frizzell’s fish shop on the Shankill Road in 1993 – Kelly survived; Copeland was injured during an attack on Begley’s wake; Larkin made an attempt on the life of Johnny Adair in 1993.
