“South Belfast UFF commander Joe Bratty, murdered by the enemies, 31st July ’94.” Bratty was killed along with Raymond Elder by the Provisional IRA (WP). The pair were also remembered in a Lemberg Street mural in 2001, and later in the Sandy Row memorial garden.
The red fist in the larger mural famously has five fingers and two thumbs.
Roosevelt Street, south Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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UDA volunteers in balaclavas and tracksuit tops pose with their assault rifles.
Lemberg Street, south Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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“It is not for glory or riches that we fight but for our people” (based on the Declaration Of Arbroath) is familiar in loyalist murals – see e.g. For Freedom Alone) but “As poppy petals gently fall/Remember them who gave their all” here makes a very infrequent appearance. It comes from The UDR Soldier, by John Potter. The mural thus links together the UDR (1970-1992) and D Company of the North Down Red Hand Commando.
Owenroe Drive, Kilcooley, Bangor
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
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Young Newton is the Newtownards Road division of the Ulster Young Militants (UYM) and formerly a Tartan Gang. This mural, however, is in Kilcooley estate, Bangor, indicating the close connection between the UDA in the estate and in east Belfast.
The wall to the right reads “Freedom Corner II” – again a connection to east Belfast and the series of walls called “Ulster’s Freedom Corner“. See J0475 for a wider image.
Drumhirk Drive, Kilcooley, Bangor
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
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Three panels portraying the importance of women to the republican movement, though the first seems to be a generic ‘mother and son’ image.
The second shows Molly Childers and Mary Spring Rice aboard the yacht, Asgard, with about 900 of the 1,500 rifles that were smuggled into Ireland on two boats. Asgard docked at Howth on July 26th, 1914; the other rifles eventually came ashore two weeks later at Kilcoole. (Here is a tcd.ie collection of images of Asgard’s journey; image #53 is the one reproduced in the mural. Rice kept a diary of the trip; extracts are included in this RTÉ History Show video. See this RTÉ article for an account of their tortured journey.) The off-loading took place during the day but when the police and army met the marching volunteers at Clontarf they were able to capture only 19 rifles. As the army regiment involved returned to barracks it was pelted with stones or fruit by a crowd and killed three (with a fourth dying a week later). The vintage Mauser rifles were received by members of Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann and Na Fıanna Éıreann.
The final panel shows Colman Doyle’s famous ?1973? image of a (staged) female IRA volunteer with AR-18.
“Commissioned by Links Women’s Group”, “by Síle Na Gig” (who did the Children Of Lear mural in Rockville Street).
South Link, Andersonstown, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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This mural for the 200th anniversary of the 1798 rebellion by “Na hÉıreannaıgh Aontaıthe” (the United Irishmen). The United Irishmen used the Maid Of Erin harp as a symbol. Out of frame to the right is the motto of the French Revolution: “Liberté, égalité, fraternité”.
There are seven names listed on the right, none of which is Andrea Redmond (Fb), who is the painter of record. The list was later painted out – see M02183.
South Link, Andersonstown, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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The IRA’s Joe McDonnell was the fifth of the 1981 hunger-strikers to die, on July 8th, after 61 days. McDonnell’s portrait is superimposed upon a sketch of a photograph of the funeral volley fired while his coffin was en route to Milltown cemetery (An Phoblacht).
Suffolk Road, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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“The two face of British imperialism: In Belgrade we bomb because they would not sign the Peace Agreement … In Belfast we merely try to re-write the Peace Agreement”.
Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a statement on Britain’s participation in the NATO bombing of Serb targets in Yugoslavia after Slobodan Milosevic rejected an agreement with the Kosovo Albanians – this, Blair said, was only the latest in a series of bad-faith actions on Milosevic’s part; the targets included Milosevic’s house, the Socialist party’s headquarters, and a TV station (BBC | Guardian).
In Northern Ireland, the implementation of the Belfast (“Good Friday”) Agreement is going slowly, and Unionist expressions of buyer’s remorse and insistence on decommissioning of arms as a precondition for talks (Guardian) suggested to republicans that they would like to re-write some of the Agreement’s provisions. Rather than ordering up bombs, Blair gave a speech in June that insisted that “Unionism must share power with the Nationalist and Republican community. … Many Republicans do not believe that Unionism will share power with them. Unionists must prove them wrong” (CAIN). The IRA were not impressed (July statement at CAIN | Guardian defense of Blair).
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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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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“I ndıl chuımhne – this plaque is dedicated to all those from the greater Newington area who lost their lives as a result of the conflict in this country.” Pikemen from the 1798 uprising stand on either side of a phoenix, with portraits above of Wolfe Tone, James Connolly, Henry Joy McCracken, and Mary Ann McCracken.
Newington Avenue, north Belfast
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Copyright © 1999 Paddy Duffy
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