physical force – Page 24 – Paddy Duffy Collection

We Too Love Freedom

2022-10-192024-08-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“[I assume that I am speaking to Englishmen who value their freedom, and who profess to be fighting for the freedom of Belgium and Serbia [in WWI].] Believe that we too love freedom and desire it. To us it is more than anything else in the world. If you strike us down now, we shall rise again and renew the fight. You cannot conquer Ireland; you cannot extinguish the Irish passion for freedom. If our deed has not been sufficient to win freedom, then our children will win it by a better deed – Gen. P. H. Pearse” at his court martial in 1916.

There are eight memorial plaques to deceased Ardoyne IRA fianna and ógliagh from the 1970s: David McAuley, Joseph Campbell, Joseph McComiskey, Bernard Fox, Charles McCann, Seamus Cassidy, Trevor McKibbin, James McDade, Gerard McDade, James Reid, Terry Toolan, Brian Smyth, Paddy McAdorey, Denis Brown, Jim Mulvenna, Jackie Mailey, Frankie Donnelly, Laurence Montgomery.

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Those Who Can Endure The Most

2022-10-192025-06-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“This wall is dedicated to all those ex prisoners that found themselves imprisoned as a result of British occupation of our country. The plaques on the wall are in memory of those former POW’s who have since passed away.”

The large carved stones are by Ardoyne republican Sean Colligan, who was interned during the troubles and spent his life as an activist in the area, particularly in organising the Ardyne Fleadh (via Saoirse32) and the murals in Ardoyne. He died of a heart attack (in 2004?).

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No Justice

2022-10-162024-08-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is a gallery of images from the Falls Road/Glen Road junction (site of the old Andersonstown RUC barracks). The images top to bottom follow the wall from right (Glen Road) to left (Falls Road).

Above: a call for the release of Basque prisoners.

Below: Mervyn and Rosaleen McDonald were Catholics living in the mixed Longlands area of Newtownabbey when they were visited by “UFF loyalist assassins” and shot dead in front of their two young children. The killings are described in most detail in Jack Holland’s Too Long A Sacrifice, which contains an interview with the gunman and the claim that the unit had access to RUC files (p. 94).

Seamus Costello fought for the IRA during the Border Campaign and was interned in the Curragh for two years. He stayed with the Officials during the split, but was driven out in 1974 and formed the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and the INLA. He was shot in 1977. (WP)

A large Fıanna banner.

Metalwork commemorating the deceased 1981 hunger strikers.

A Sınn Féın electoral banner.

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Pearse Jordan

2022-10-162024-08-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Pearse Jordan was unarmed when he was killed by the RUC on November 25th, 1992 but in this new Éıre Nua Flute Band board he leaves his prints on an assault rifle. (previous Éıre Nua board) His killing was ruled unlawful, and subsequent inquest insufficient, by the European Court Of Human Rights in 2001. The campaign for an inquest continues (An Phoblacht).

The words on the board – “Slan [sic] go foıll [sic] moh [sic] chara, just for a while/We’ll not have your craic, your jokes, or your smiles/But in years to come, your memory’s still true/A brave son of Ireland, we will not forget you” – are the chorus of The Ballad Of Pearse Jordan (words | sung by The Irish Brigade).

The board is in Hugo Street, which is also the site of his memorial plaque, just above the Evolution Of Our Revolution.

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Staff Captain Joe McCann

2022-10-162024-08-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Joe McCann was IRA/OIRA OC in the Markets area of Belfast. He was famously photographed among burning buildings in Inglis’s bakery, during protests against the introduction on internment, crouched beneath a Starry Plough and holding an M1. (For more, see Battle Of The Markets, which features the same photograph.) For McCann’s death the following year (on April 15th, 1972) see Joe McCann.

This new board replaces a tarp in the same location: see On The Brink Of Sectarian Disaster.

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He Died That We Might Live

2022-10-162024-07-31Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

UVF volunteer John Hanna was 19 years old when he was killed by “the enemies of Ulster” (the IRA) at his home on Donegall Road in the Village. This new board is in Prince Andrew Park, just off Donegall Road. “Always remembered by the officers and volunteers South Belfast [2nd Batt Sandy Row] UVF”.

On the side-wall, the poppies and the downcast soldiers come from the first World War but the names are all of modern UVF and RHC volunteers, from 1976 to the present day.

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Donegall Pass UVF

2022-10-162024-07-30Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Visible from the Ormeau Road, this large union flag greets visitors to Donegall Pass in the south of the city. It asserts the presence of the UVF and connects the original Ulster Volunteer Force of 1913 to the present-day group one hundred years later: the aim of the original UVF was to resist the impending rule by Catholics under Home Rule.

The image below is of the wall opposite, in the car-park; the names are presumably those of local children, with “WATP” [we are the people] and poppies.

Here Lies A Soldier

2022-10-132024-07-30Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

RHC volunteer Stevie McCrea (born 31.5.52, killed 18.2.89) was imprisoned for his role in the killing of 17 year-old Catholic James Kerr in a Lisburn Road garage, on the same day as the RHC bombed Benny’s Bar in Sailortown. He was killed in an IPLO attack on the Orange Cross (the Shankill Social Club). This Village mural is the second tribute to McCrea this year – see also A True Soldier Of Ulster in the lower Shankill, near the former location of the Orange Cross in Craven Street.

The text on the board reads: “Stevie was raised in The Village Area of South Belfast. He was just a young man when The Troubles started but without hesitation answered the call by joi[ni]ng the Village RHC. He soon started making a name for himself by putting himself on the front line with his brothers in arms in the RHC. These men where [sic] one of the most active units in Ulster by taking the fight the republicans. In 1972 at the height of The Troubles Stevie was sentenced to life for his part in a retaliation shooting and was imprisoned in Long Kesh. After serving 15 years with dignity and courage he was released. On the 16th February 1989 just after receiving his last pay cheque [from a transitional work scheme] he decided to join a few friends in The Orange Cross Club in the Shankill area. This would be his last drink as republican scum decided to target the Loyalist club. Stevie sacrificed himself to protect his friend by throwing himself in front of a hail of bullets. Stevie died 2 days later from his injuries in the Royal Victoria Hospital.”

Ulster Defence Association

2022-10-132024-10-21Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

A 1972 Victor Patterson photograph of a UDA mobile patrol in the Oldpark is recreated for this new mural in the Village, south Belfast. “The UDA was formed in September 1971 for most of this time it was a legal organisation. It’s [sic] declared goal was to defend Ulster loyalist Protestant areas and to combat Irish republicanism mainly the IRA. The UDA/UFF declared a ceasefire in 1994 it ended its campaign in 2007.”

Rockview Street, Village, south Belfast.

Village UVF

2022-10-132024-07-30Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The main UVF mural in the Village area of south Belfast was freshened up in 2018. The design of the mural remains the same as before, with hooded gunmen on either side of the UVF emblem aiming directly at the viewer (see the second image). For the previous version, see 2013’s The Village People.

The plaques were added to the side-wall in 2022. This is the third commemoration to Village UVF volunteer Stevie McCrea and the second to Sammy Mehaffy – see Stephen Desmond McCrea and Battalion Of The Dead, which also includes John Hanna, who has a solo board in Prince Edward Pk.

As is often now the case, the modern UVF (McCrea died 1989-02-18 from wounds sustained in the IPLO attack on the Orange Cross, and Mehaffy on 1991-11-13, shot by the IRA in nearby Lecale Street) is mixed in with the 1912 anti-Home Rule Ulster Volunteers and Young Citizen Volunteers, which are themselves blended together with WWI and the 36th (Ulster) Division of 1914-1918.