This new pro-Basque mural on the International Wall on Divis Street calls for the release of Arnaldo Otegi, one-time ETA member and leader of a pro-Basque party, along with other political prisoners. (More information on Otegi at arnaldotegi.com and WP.) “Pake bidean” is the Basque for “The pathway to peace”. (The mural is at the eastern end of the wall; takes the place of the Ian Knox anti-racism mural featured in Never Actually Existed.)
Update: Otegi was released in March, 2016 (Irish Times)
Above is the new Joe Cahill mural in Beechview Park, next to the GAA pitch. The mural was unveiled on September 2nd. (Images of the unveiling from An Phoblacht.) Joe Cahill (WP) holds the cup aloft. The group in the bottom left corner (see the second image, below) are Pat O’Hare, Frank Cahill, Tom Cahill, (the three Cahills were featured in the previous mural) Ned Maguire, Jr., Ned Maguire, Sr., Alec Crowe, Paddy Meenan, Tommy Crowe, Dal Delaney, and Hugh Elliot. In the crook of Cahill’s arm (see third image, below) are Rita McParland, Sean Wallace, Paddy Corrigan, John Pettigrew, and John Stone. None of these adults is still alive; all were from the local area.
The chalet bungalows in the background on the left are gone, but you can see images of them on the Belfast Forum.
The plaque on the left names others in addition: Billy Kelly, Alice Cush, Kate Campbell, John Mulligan, Mary Mulligan, David Mulhern, Margaret Mulhern, John Clarke, Margaret Farrelly, Marie Williams, Kevin Sullivan, Michael Rock, John McColgan, Bridget Maguire, Martin Maguire, Sally Corrigan, Sonny O’Reilly, Maggie McArdle, Jimmy McArdle, Kathleen Wallace, Maragret McGuinness, John Flanagan, Maisie McGuckian, Charlie McGuckian, Anthony Muldoon, Jim Logue, Ellen Weir, Liam Mackie, Oliver McParland, Sadie McMahon, Tommy Crowe, Maddie Holden, Sarah Doyle, Jimmy Doyle, Kathleen Pettigrew, Mary Cushnihan, Bell Cosgrove, Gerry Campbell.
The new Gaeltacht mural on Divis Steet’s International Wall is to mark the launch of The Big Gaeltacht Quarter Plan and the signing of the Gaeltacht Quarter Charter (Tele).
Detail from a new mural on the Springfield Road, opposite the barracks: End British internment of Irish Republicans, 2013. Painted by Rebel Rebel of the Gael Force Art group. A shot of the whole piece can be found below.
This is the (second) memorial to Paul ‘Topper’ Thompson in Moyard. He was killed by the UDA on April 27th, 1994. Collusion is alleged – see Relatives For Justice.
“In memory of Topper Thompson, murdered by British death squads, 27th April 1994 aged 25. Deeply missed by never forgotten. Erected by his friends.”
Previously we featured an image from the north (loyalist) side of the Cupar Way “peace” line, a.k.a. “war wall” or “wall of hostility” – the wall/fence separating neighbourhoods along the Shankill from those along the Falls. Here are two shots from the south (republican) side of the line, in Bombay Street. Divis tower is visible in the distance in the first. The second, below, shows the additional fencing that covers the backs of some houses.
The ‘Eileen Hickey Irish Republican History Museum‘ — which is across the street behind the Conway Mill — is named for Eileen Hickey, a Provisional IRA member who served time in Armagh prison; she died in 2006, one year before the opening of the museum (obituary at An Phoblacht). A close-up of the woman with a bin lid, in the lower right-hand corner, can be found below.
Next to the opening hours is an image of a prison cell in the Armagh women’s prison. The museum itself contains a cell door and a bed from the prison.
Above is an extra-wide shot (2700 pixels) of another panel from the wall next to the Republican Museum on Conway Street (next to the previously featured Eileen Hickey). The mural features banners of two Australian Republican support-groups, holding banners reading “Australian Aid for Ireland QLD [Queensland] Branch – The Spirit of Freedom” and “The Casement Support Group – Saoirse Melbourne”.
Printed and framed tarp in Bombay Street, commemorating the burning of Bombay Street during the August 1969 Belfast riots and the death Gerald McAuley, a young IRA member (Fian, not “Fiann” as written here) killed by a sniper during the trouble. Three photographs from the street at the time are reproduced in the bottom third of the board.
Ten years ago, an earlier incarnation of this board could be found on the other side of the street, connected to the issue of the day: No (Decom)mission.
