Open Season

“Open gates. Open borders. Open season. Your sheep. Their feast.” Politicians from Sınn Féın, the SDLP, Alliance, and People Before Profit are shown opening the gates for masked and armed men who are coming from the sea and bidding them to enter a sheepfold of “our constituents”.

The PSNI are investigating the banner as a “hate incident” (rather than a “hate crime” – see A New Evil for the difference) (BelTel). The banner was later (July 1st) removed and replaced with Union Flags and an Ulster Banner (Belfast Media | News Letter).

Shore Road, north Belfast

Update, July 3rd: the banner has been restored – see the Seosamh Mac Coılle collection.

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Believe In Your Dreams

Ryan McBride was a Derry City FC defender and captain who died suddenly in 2017 at the age of 27 (BBC). The stadium was renamed, and the Ryan McBride foundation (web) was established, in his honour.

The piece above (by Ray Bonner) is at the Brandywell stadiums; the banner below is in Lecky Road.

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Stop The Game

The Irish men’s soccer team is scheduled to play Israel in the Nations’ League, on September 27th and – at home – on October 4th, 2026. A campaign was launched to “Stop the game” in Dublin as a form of protest and disengagement, most prominently in the form of an open letter (instagram) sent to the FAI signed by footballers and various musicians.

The FAI instead appealed to UEFA to have the game played behind closed doors in a neutral country, saying that while it was “deeply conscious” of the suffering in Gaza and the West Bank, it did not want to forfeit the points or be disqualified from the competition (FAI).

The large tarp shown above has been added (on June 18th) on top of the long Painting For Palestine mural on Divis Street.

The various placards reading “No to hate”, “Fight racism”, and “Yes to all!” were added last week (June 17th) in response to the rioting in east Belfast and elsewhere – see McMaster Street Remembers. (These additions are reminiscent of the ‘Free Marian Price’ additions in 2013 – see Scaoıl Saor Marian Price in the Peter Moloney Collection.)

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Pride Of Lord Street

The association of lions with the English monarchy goes back to Henry II and his sons Richard (“the lionheart”) and John (WP). Why they were represented by lions is unclear; it perhaps stems from the prominence of lions in the Bible and the Lion Of Judah from Genesis 49:9.

These lions, somehow carrying Union Flags, are in Lord Street at Lord Street Mews, east Belfast

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An Ideology Of Hate

Here are four flags from “Ulster Carrickfergus Loyalists [Fb]” attached to the fencing at the top of Woodburn Avenue in Carrickfergus. For (limited) background on the UCL, see No Illegal Migrants.

First, “Ulster loyalist – unite and fight.” with a fiery-eyed skull (reminiscent of Eddie The Trooper).

Second, “We are united as one & united we shall remain. Never surrender.” with the flags of the “four nations” that make up the current United Kingdom.

Third, “Christ is king. Stand up to radical Islam. Islam is not a race – it’s an ideology of hate.”

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Saturday Morning Stop Shop

Here are three banners/posters spotted along the Falls Road during the Easter Rising parade on April 5th:

Above: “Sainsbury’s supports Israel! Don’t shop there. Easter Sat 4th [April, 2026].” For background see the post and reel on the BDS Belfast Fb page.

Below: “U.S. military not welcome in Ireland! Not in Shannon, not in Aldergrove.” For background, see Al-Jazeera | ShannonWatch. April 13th: a person was arrested for taking a hatchet to a C-120 Hercules (Democracy Now).

Last below: “PSNI target Catholics at much higher rate for stop-and-search. Source: PSNI stop-and-search data. Do not join the RUC/PSNI. Same aim, different name. IRSP [web] – the party of Connolly & Costello.” The data in question might be from the 2020-2021 period (PSNI | TheDetail) as the current (2025) data do not appear to report on sectional identification.

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Lıle Na Cásca

“100 years. Lıle na Cásca. Wear your Easter lily with pride. Tabhaır ómós do laochra na hÉıreann. [Pay respect to Ireland’s warriors]”

Shown here are Sınn Féın (web) and Lasaır Dhearg (web) invocations to commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising. The lily as a symbol of the 1916 Easter Rising was introduced by Cumann Na mBan in 1926 as a fund-raising device. For a history and vintage posters from across the century, see An Phoblacht.

Falls Road, west Belfast

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We Are All Palestinians

“Palestine bleeds. Over 20,000 children killed. That’s more than one child killed every hour. And 42,000 injured by the Israeli murder machine. Their revenge will be the laughter of their children. Andersonstown stands with Palestine. We are all Palestinians.” The figures perhaps come from a Save The Children report from September, 2025.

South Link, Andersonstown, west Belfast, next to the large Oppression Breeds Resistance mural.

See also: The Occupied Territories.

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Cuımhníonn An Srath Bán Orthu

Ceannasaíacht [sic Ceannasaíocht] Iarthar Thír Eoghaın – Cuımhníonn an Srath Bán ortha [sic orthu]. [West Tyrone leadership – Strabane remembers them]”. This large tarp replaces another one that used similar language – Cuımhníonn An Srath Bán Orthu Go Deo – but where that tarp remembered the dead of 1916, this one commemorates Sands and Guevara (who are also painted together just to the viewer’s right on a yard wall – see Revolutionaries) and the hooded gunmen of the Troubles-era armed struggle.

Fountain Street, Strabane

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