assault rifle

Your Country Needs You

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“The UDA formed in 1971 as an umbrella for Loyalist Vigilante groups being formed. There [sic] role to defend the Protestant community from IRA violence. They remain today. Ask yourself this question: When the battle has been finally won, will I be able to stand and be counted amongst the men won it? Make sure the answer is yes – join your local unit of the UDA. Your country needs you.” This is an addition to the panels shown in Show No Mercy, Expect None Back.

And (on the other side of the street) the tarp is an addition to ‘We Will Never Accept A United Ireland’. “We remember our culture, from the siege of Derry to the battle of the Boyne. ‘No Surrender’.”

For the Varadkar poster, Political Leaders Are Not Listening.

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Bang Up To Date

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The previous UVF mural in Carrington Street (Volunteering | On Your Side) was paint-bombed in October, 2020, (Keep It Local) but was quickly replaced by this computer-generated board showing the Harland & Wolff cranes, a Long Kesh watch-tower, and a hooded gunman from the UVF’s East Belfast Battalion.

Carrington Street, east Belfast

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The Sporting Wing

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“The sporting wing [of the IRA]” is a play on the idea that Sınn Féın was the “political wing” of the IRA and so Celtic FC is the group’s “sporting wing”. Instead of Celtic’s usual four-leaf clover, three hooded gunmen fire a funeral volley.

The GAA has also been given the title (BelTel 2020); Sammy Wilson, as DUP press officer defending UDA attacks on GAA halls in Belfast and Banbridge, in September 1993, described the GAA as “the IRA at play” (WP). (For a history of the two organisations, see Irish Peace Process.)

Falls Road, west Belfast

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Comply With Your Country’s Demand

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The new panels shown here re-re-image the side-wall of the mural on the left (see For Valour), which was dedicated to the Royal Irish Rifles of the Great War. We now see hooded UVF gunmen from the 1st East Antrim battalion, and an interesting quote from Edward Carson.

In September, 1914, six weeks after the Great War had begun, Edward Carson wrote to the Ulster Volunteers entreating “those who have not already responded” to “my call for Defenders of the Empire” to “enlist at once for the Ulster Division in Lord Kitchener’s Army”, fighting alongside “our fellow Britishers”: “Quit yourselves like men and comply with your country’s demand”. The impulse for the display of force shown here is the other, original, motivation for the paramilitary force, which Carson describes as “to defend our citizenship in the United Kingdom” (Strachan & Nally).

The Larches, Carrickfergus

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Loyalist Movilla

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“The Parachute Regiment betrayed by the government to satisfy IRA Army Council demands.” The charges of murder and attempted murder against Soldier F were originally lodged (CNN) and pursued in 2019 (Guardian) but in 2021 the PPS decided to drop the charges. In March (2022) that decision was quashed (BelTel | Guardian). The charges against Soldier F concerned two specific victims, William McKinney and James Wray, though witness testimony involves F in at least four of the deaths (Irish Central | Village). In response to the original charges, the Movilla UDA added the framed tarp shown here to their ‘hooded gunmen’ board in Georges Street, Newtownards.

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Bowtown UVF

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Here is a gallery of UVF boards along Abbot Drive, in Bowtown, Newtownards, mixing North Down with East Belfast brigades (see East East Belfast), and mixing UVF/PAF with the Ulster Volunteers and 36th Division – “Through the years the uniforms may change but our cause will always remain the same”. “The prevention of the erosion of our identity is now our priority.”

There is also a board to QEII – see Bowtown Thanks You.

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Armed & Ready

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The Weavers Grange estate in Newtownards was back in the news this week after a car was destroyed there by petrol bomb (Belfast Live). This is the latest in a long spring season of violence between by rival gangs (North Down UFF and the “Real” UFF, which was affiliated with the South East Antrim UDA (Sunday World)) that began in March and have caused over 30 families to leave the estate (Bel Tel). (Irish News March 30th | BBC April 8th | Bel Tel May 3rd). Bangor, Ballywalter, and Donaghadee have also seen violence (Belfast Live | BBC).

The images today are of the loyalist boards in Weaver’s Grange estates before the recent disturbances, which included the removal of at least some of South East Antrim UDA boards (Bel Tel | Sunday World which includes a photo of the penultimate board shown here being torn down).

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Our British Identity

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Various changes and additions have been made to the Ulster Volunteers/UVF mural in London Road, east Belfast, compared to the version that replaced a religious mural (Jesus Strong Man) in 2017. The ‘hooded gunman’ board seen in the image above previously replaced a Union Flag in London Road (see East Belfast Ulster Volunteers) but has now been moved to the main Our Lady’s Road: “Our British identity cannot & will not be sacrificed to appease the Irish Republic – East Belfast Battalion [UVF]”.

The side-wall has been modified, to include a UVF emblem and larger lettering for “East Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force”.

For close-ups of the WWI portion, painted by Mark Ervine, see Between The Crosses; for a close-up of the four portraits of volunteers Seymour, Long, Cordner, and Bennett, see Ulster’s Brave.

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S Company, C Company

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Joe Coggle and Paul McClelland were arrested as they sat with weapons in a car on the Falls Road in 1991; they were jailed for 18 years (Independent) but released under the Agreement. The Sunday World also report that the pair were involved in the killing of David Braniff in 1989. Both UVF men are said to be deceased; Coggle died in September.

Coggle had previously served 18 months for running over and killing Elizabeth Masterson in Beechmount in 1986 and her descendants objected to the mural (Irish News | BBC).

S Company was a predecessor to C Company; it existed from 1969 to 1974, when C Company was formed (see M08105 for an older S Coy – C Coy mural in Ballygomartin). A previous UVF uzi can be seen in M01186.

For the mural of five volunteers to the right (in the wide shot), see C Coy Street.

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