“Death is not an honour but a sacrafice [sic] and those who gave that sacrafice [sic] are remembered by those who follow. All gave some, some gave all. Quis separabit.” Village UDA C company volunteers in balaclava pose with assault rifles around an Ulster Banner in the shape of Northern Ireland.
Rockview Street, south Belfast
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Copyright © 2001 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T00789
Hooded gunmen from C company pose on top of an Ulster Banner in the shape of a free-floating Northern Ireland. This is one of the murals painted during Johnny Adair’s reign over C company.
Malvern Way, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy
T00453
Cú Chulaınn (or, as here, Cuchulainn) is usually shown dying, in the pose made famous by Oliver Sheppard in his statue that was installed in the General Post Office in Dublin in 1935. (See the Visual History page about Cú Chulaınn in murals.) Here, however, he is a living warrior (carrying a sword and a shield emblazoned with the crest of Northern Ireland) as an analogue to loyalist paramilitaries and prisoners of war (“LPOW” on the right).
Lincoln Court, Londonderry
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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T01194
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.
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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy
T00434
“Free our prisoners o[f] w[ar]”, specifically prisoners from the South Belfast UFF/UDA. This pair of smaller murals is in the garden next to St Alban’s, and the gable mural is across the road.
Blythe Street, south Belfast
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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T01177 T01186 T01185
The Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) was the political wing of the UDA, and supported a policy of an independent Northern Ireland (as described in the policy document ‘Common Sense‘). It won a few council seats in the late 1980s and early 1990s (and dissolved in 2001) (BBC-NI).
The top-right panel is similar to this Victor Patterson photograph of the farmers’ protest at Stormont during the Ulster Workers’ Council strike that brought down the Sunningdale Agreement in 1974.
Bellevue Street, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1998 Paddy Duffy
T00260 [T00263]
The scroll on the left between the emblems of the UDA, UYM, UFF and the Ulster banner reads, “In memory of our freedom fighters who fought and died for Ulster. It was not for glory they fought nor honour or riches but freedom alone which no good man should lose but with his life.” There is a pair of manacled red fists above the central UFF emblem, which itself rests on a free-floating outline of Northern Ireland superimposed with the Ulster banner. On the right is a crouching volunteer from A battalion, from south Belfast’s Sandy Row.
Linfield Road, south Belfast
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Copyright © 1998 Paddy Duffy
T00247
A pair of manacled red fists break free of their chains and the Maze/Long Kesh is depicted in the outline of Northern Ireland. “Free the prisoners”, “All gave some, some gave all.”
No particular paramilitary group is mentioned, though this is UDA territory.
Bellevue Street, Shankill, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1996 Paddy Duffy
T00236
“Still defending Ulster – we will always be ready. 1912 – 1969. To the politicians: words are not enough for the peace and freedom of the children and the people of Ulster “deeds and actions”. To our volunteers: the supreme sacrifice is to lay down your life for your country. Some have given everything, others have yet to give.”
The modern volunteer, while hooded, is not in an active pose, reflecting the ceasefire. The word “to the politicians” perhaps express frustration with the peace process (and hint at the continued violence of the LVF, created after the dispute in July at Drumcree).
Kenilworth Place, east Belfast
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Copyright © 1996 Paddy Duffy
T00151
“Gertrude Star flute band [Fb], east Belfast, est. 1961.” This mural, created in “1993” (left), is probably being repaired after after being paint-bombed – see the white paint dripping down on the St Andrew’s Saltire. The interior of the “Northern Island” and Spike the bulldog’s badge have yet to be restored. For the mural in full health, see D00394.
Martin Street, east Belfast
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Copyright © 1996 Paddy Duffy
T00149
