Here is another response to the coronation of King Charles last weekend: (above and last) a Lasaır Dhearg (web) tarp in north Belfast reading “Fuck King Charles”.
Compare previously: England’s Bloody Empire and Not Our King with May The King Live Forever and The Settlement Of The True Protestant Religion.
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“Ballykeel 1 celebrates the coronation of King Charles III.” The United Kingdom crowns a new monarch today, May 6th, 2023, in the form of Charles III; he acceded to the throne on September 8th, 2022, upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II (see The People’s Queen Is Dead | Now Is The Time To Kneel | Loyal Servants). The ceremony will include a pledge of allegiance that those in attendance and those watching may (voluntarily) make (BBC). The leaders of Australia and New Zealand are among those expected to make the pledge (Reuters); Michelle O’Neill and Alex Maskey of Sınn Féın will be in attendance (BBC).
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“Victory to the workers”. Costello House is home to the IRSP (tw) “Advice Hub” with representative Dan Murphy (Mid Falls & Springfield) and Michael Kelly (Lower Falls). Murphy (in Black Mountain) received 2.7% and Kelly (in Court) 3.2% of first-preference votes in the recent local elections (WP).
Falls Road, west Belfast.
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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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UFF, UDA, and UYM mural in Tullycarnet: Tullycarnet 5th Battalion, East Belfast Brigade. The mural dates back to 2006 at least. Also included (below) is a large Tullycarnet flute band tarp on the railings.
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” … to Irish Sea border”. This tarp is on the Walmer Street side of the Ballynafeigh Apprentice Boys flute band’s social club. For the King Billy emblem over the Blackwood Street entrance, see M05390.
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Left: After a break for the funeral of the Duke Of Edinburgh, the Loyalist Communities Council has resumed its protest of Brexit with a banner campaign (Irish News). The banner seems to be offering viewers the choice of one of four affiliations (“Europe – UK – USA – Ireland – choose one or the other! It’s your decision!) but the “correct” answer is at the bottom (and in the faded background of the Covenant): “Ulster is British and this we will always maintain!” even though “Political leaders are not listening!” (including, perhaps, Arlene Foster and the DUP.) The Belfast Agreement (Good Friday Agreement) allows people in Northern Ireland to identify themselves as Irish, British, or both.
Right: “Peace or protocol – it’s your decision”, aimed at Leo Varadkar on the day that he again became Taoiseach (Irish Times) and repeating his words back to him from a speech in 2018: “The possibility of a return to violence is very real”. At that meeting, Varadkar was anticipating violence by anti-Agreement republicans in response to customs posts on the Ireland-Northern Ireland border, and brought a newspaper describing the death of four customs officials, two lorry drivers, and three IRA volunteers at a Monaghan post in 1972 (BelTel).
The authors of this poster are not known, but the parallel statement (mutatis mutandis) would be that anti-Protocol agents – perhaps the “young loyalists” that the UVF “can no longer contain” (UK Daily; see also RTÉ from November) – might return to acts of violence such as the 1974 “Dublin & Monaghan Bombings” that killed 33 people – in the background of the poster is part of a photograph (included below) of bomb damage in Talbot Street – if the Protocol’s “Irish Sea border” is not removed.
Ballysillan Road and (below) Oakmount Drive (near Mount Vernon), north Belfast.
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“90% of young people in this area say (based on consultation with 250 young people) it’s easy to access drugs/alcohol. Are you surprised?” For more on this campaign by Greater Shankill Youth Connects (Fb) promoting their “Shankill Talks” forums, see Belfast Live.
Mayo Street, Shankill, west Belfast
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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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Above, a “Welcome to loyalist Seymour Hill” board with flags and poppies, and a (2021) tarp “Seymour Hill says no to the Irish Sea border”.
Below, Queen Elizabeth II 70th/platinum Jubilee banners remain on either side of the UDA board above the Seymour Hill shops, even after her death in September (previously there were two NI Centenary banners). There are orange lilies at the four corners of the UDA emblem.
Rowan Drive, Dunmurry
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Paddy Duffy Collection 