RIC/RUC/PSNI

Don’t Join

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“Don’t join the PSNI” – This Lasaır Dhearg board takes the “poster officer” from the 2021 recruitment campaign and puts them against a backdrop of riot officers firing plastic bullets. “17 people have been killed by plastic bullets, including 8 children.” “It is believed that the PSNI retain a stockpile of over 50,000 deadly plastic bullets.” The British state does not use plastic bullets anywhere but occupied Ireland.” “The PSNI is not a normal police force.” Here is the 2021 Amnesty report on the use of water cannon and “Attenuating Energy Projectiles” in the north. In November, relatives of Carol Ann Kelly went to Stormont to call for an end to the use of plastic bullets (BelTel).

Iveagh Parade, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Andersonstown Barracks

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The RUC barracks at the junction of the Falls Road and Glen Road was demolished in 2005. Since then, it has become a small park and since 2008 the back wall has been full of republican messages and imagery. The metal-work commemorating the hunger strikers pre-dates the painted and printed works, dating back to 2006.

(There is a complete Visual History at Extramural Activity.)

Also included (last) is a mobile board, parked on the Glen Road side, commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the second hunger strike (“Stailc Ocrais Tríocha Bliain”), in which ten IRA and INLA prisoners died.

Falls Road/Glen Rd, Andersonstown, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2011 Paddy Duffy
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RIC Murder Gang

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One RIC member was killed and another wounded outside the Beehive Bar in a shoot-out with IRA men in September 1920. In reprisal, County Inspector Harrison and his men killed Vol. Ned Trodden, Vol. Sean Gaynor, and Sean McFadden (Rısteard Ó Murchú). The gang, under Detective Inspector Nixon, would go on to kill more Catholics in 1921 and in 1922 commit the McMahon killings and the Arnon Street killings, in each of which 6 people died.

Northumberland Street, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2008 Paddy Duffy
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We Demand The Truth!

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“We demand the truth! International investigation into the death of Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson.” Finucane and Nelson were both solicitors with nationalist and republican clients. Finucane was shot by the UDA in front of his wife and three children in 1989; RUC collusion was immediately suspected (and the weapon came from a UDR armoury) (WP). Nelson was killed by an LVF (“Red Hand Defenders”) car-bomb in March, 1999 (WP); the report of the eventual inquiry into her death can be found at CAIN. The allegation in the illustration here is that when the mask of loyalist “murder gangs” is lowered, the Orange Order and RUC are found behind it. “Disband the RUC”

Ardoyne Avenue, north Belfast

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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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Same Story, Same Bigotry

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Londoner Stephen Lawrence was murdered by stabbing in 1993 and, although arrests were made, no charges were brought. A 1998 public inquiry found that the London Metropolitan Police Service was “institutionally racist”. (In 2012, two of the original suspects would be found guilty of the murder (WP).)

Catholic Robert Hamill was beaten to death by loyalists in Portadown in 1997 while police in an RUC land-rover looked on (WP).

Brompton Park, Ardoyne, north Belfast

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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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Looking For Lasting Peace!

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“Disband the RUC.” A fortune-teller sees the path to peace in an Irish News headline in her crystal ball: “RUC disbanded. New community peace force established”. Reform or replacement of the RUC is one of the top nationalist concerns in the peace process, after the release of POWs.

Market Street, Markets, south Belfast

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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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Approved Orange Route

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According to the “SS RUC” officer on the left, the “approved Orange route” is over the bodies of Catholic residents. The 1996 parade on the Ormeau Road went ahead over the public protests and legal action of local residents (Irish Times). The 1997 parade was called off (youtube).

“June 20” (on the right of the mural) is the date that Mo Mowlam is reported to have decided to force the Drumcree march down Garvaghy Road – see Beware! Mowlam became (Labour) Secretary for Northern Ireland in May, 1997. She is represented here in the guise of Lady Justice, washing her hands of the parades issue in a bowl held by the newly-formed Parades Commission.

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Copyright © 1997 Paddy Duffy
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So I Always Looked The Other Way

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A cartoon by ‘Cormac‘ (Brian Moore) is turned into a mural on Belfast’s Whiterock Road by Mo Chara Kelly. The mural satirizes the ad included below, which urges people to call the confidential telephone to report terrorist activity. Instead, the protagonist can no longer ignore the violence of the British Army (and RUC) and calls the Sınn Féın office.

1 When the Brits were having a go … “Who cares?” I thought.
2 And when something really rough happened I just trained harder to forget it … [Speech-bubble:] Anything for a quiet life, see.
3 But where’s it got me? What have these brave lads in khaki done for me? [British Army soldier:] We’re not here to do things for you; we’re here to do things to you.
4 [RUC commander:] Hey, don’t forget us. We’ve done our share of wrecking homes, harassing people. We’ve murdered and tortured and …
5 And when I saw their kind of justice I thought “There’s got to be something better than this.” [Judge:] You may think I’m a corrupt Orange bigot. But I know that I’m a very well-paid corrupt Orange bigot! And the only justice you’re going to get is British justice.
6 So I made up my mind. I wanted these thugs off our backs. [Thought-bubble:] Is it any wonder that the British tourist is the most despised person on earth?
7 You see I want a decent future, and it’s not going to happen while these “hero[e]s” are doing the dirty work of British imperialism. And it’s not going to happen if you’re waiting for someone else to do something.
8 622112. Hallo? Is that the Sınn Féın office?

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
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