Hooded UVF volunteers from “1st battalion, B company” armed with an assault rifle and an Uzi take aim at unspecified targets.
On the side-wall to the left it reads, “The UVF reserve the right to strike at republican targets where and when the opportunity arises” – see also the Peter Moloney Collection.
Ohio Street, Woodvale, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00146 T00229
This mural shows nine hooded republican volunteers employing an assortment of weapons – rifles, RPG launcher, drogue bomb, machine gun – against a rising sun. “We will have our day.” The trio in the bottom right corner are familiar from other murals, such as this one in Strabane.
South Link, Andersonstown, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00086 T00034
Volunteers in simplified clothing fire a funeral volley over an unseen coffin. The mural was later made more complex – see Slán Go Fóıll in the Peter Moloney Collection.
For the side wall, see Long Kesh in the Peter Moloney Collection.
South Link, Andersonstown, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00085
“In proud memory of those who gave their lives for Ireland’s freedom” (and out of sight to the left) “Also to all civilians murdered by the British crown forces” (and out of sight to the right) “Also to all civilians murdered by pro-British elements”. The Celtic cross bears three republican flags: Tricolour, Sunburst, and Starry Plough.
The volunteers (and one Sınn Féın member) listed are (on the left) “Martin Forsythe, Martin Skillen, Gerard Fennell, Terence O’Neill, John Dempsey” and (on the right) “Sean McDermott, Tom Magill, Sean Savage, Kevin McCracken, Paul Best”.
For a complete shot, see the Peter Moloney Collection.
Norglen Gardens, west Belfast, next to the 1916 Cú Chulaınn.
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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00082
UVF volunteers in balaclavas take aim other across a free-floating Northern Ireland with an Uzi and an assault rifle. The emblem supported by flags on the right is unusual for its inclusion of a ?large daisy? and pink ribbon.
The location of this wall is unknown, which suggests the site of the Community Centre – please get in touch if you know where it was.
Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast
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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00226 T00125
“Always remembered, never forgotten”. This mural is unique in providing the length of the sentences being served by various members of the “B + D” company of the Ballysillan UVF: Kerr, Tarr, Bill, Watt, and Beattie are serving “Life”, while others – Courtney, Gilliland, Campbell, and Smith – are serving “stip” sentences (stipulated minimums) of twenty years or more; Stewart is being held “S.O.S.P”, that is, at the “Secretary Of State’s Pleasure”, presumably because he was convicted as a minor; the rest (Addley, McKay, McClure, McKinney, Murphy) are serving ordinary terms, except for Boreland and Suitters who are marked as “murdered” and Rollins who is “deceased”.
Here is a pamphlet from the Committee On The Administrative Of Justice on the “life” prisoners in NI prisons in the years prior to 1988 (pdf).
Suitters was shot by the IRA in 1975 at his shop (Sutton) not far from this mural in Legann Street.
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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00114
“They fought then for the cause of Ulster, we will fight now.” The 75th anniversary of the Ulster Volunteers is celebrated in this mural in Dover Place, west Belfast. On the left of the Northern Island is an Ulster Volunteer in period (1912) garb standing on a patch of ground, on the right, a modern (1987) paramilitary in hood and fatigues standing on a city footpath. The Ulster Volunteers as such did not fight for Ulster – they instead joined the British Army and fought “for King and Empire” in WWI, after which Home Rule was applied only to 26 counties of Ireland and Northern Ireland was created and remained within the UK.
See also: UVF 75th Anniversary
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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00126 [T00115]
These are three of the murals painted in Percy Place, west Belfast, painted by Alan Skillen in 1984. For a gallery of all eleven piece, see the street’s Visual History page.
The murals combined traditional PUL themes and iconography, such as King Billy and the monarchy, with the emblems and hooded gunmen of paramilitary groups.
The piece above is unusual in that it takes a familiar UDA device of four emblems in the quadrants of an Ulster Banner shield (see e.g. Sans Peur) but replaces three of them with the emblems of the UVF, PAF, and YCV. A crude outline of Northern Ireland has also been applied.
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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00141 T00153
The death by hanging of African National Congress supporter Benjamin Moloise on 18 October, 1985, for the alleged murder of a South African policeman, drew international condemnation and led to widespread rioting in Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth. (ExecutedToday | Jet)
Moloise’s words, “tell the world, freedom is at hand”, originally appeared on the right of this ANC-IRA mural, paired with a phrase from Bobby Sands, “we aim to be free” on the left of the assault rifle and a zulu shield and spear. The quote and signature have been painted out due to paint-bombing. (There was (at least) one other paint-bombing of the mural – see the Peter Moloney Collection.)
The boards above the mural (“erected by Sınn Féın April 1986”) declare west Belfast an “apartheid free zone”/”ceantar saor ó apartheıd”. Note the “A/A” [anti-aparteid] emblem in bottom-left of the left-hand board.
“Beır bua” [seize victory] along the bottom is partly obscured by the skip.
Ascaıll Ard Na bhFeá/Beechmount Avenue, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00072
The main panel, of three IRA volunteers with raised weapons, was painted by Sean ‘Conker’ Connolly, presumably based on or inspired by the poster below.
Also on the wall are (below right) a Tricolour and (below left) “Sinn Fein/Gerry Adams” and a small board (at the top) with a raised fist and the slogan “Unity is strength”.
Westrock Drive, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00069
