CNR

In The Cause Of Irish Freedom

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03395 2016-04-12 Ardoyne 2016 Salute+

A lily and written ‘salute’ have been added to the Fıanna Éıreann wall at the top of Berwick Road/Paráıd An Ardghleanna for the centenary of the Easter Rising: “1916 – 2016 – We salute the memory of those who have given their lives in the cause of Irish freedom.”

For the plaque and the tarp to the right (both of which commemorate four local teenagers), see Purity In Our Hearts.

In the left-hand corner is an RNU sunburst in green, white, and orange.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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In Commemoration Of Easter 1916

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03376 2016-04-12 In Commemoration Easter 1916+

Tom Clarke is at the head of his fellow signatories as he looks down over a printed tarp reproducing photographs of events surrounding the Easter Rising of 1916, including soldiers from the Irish Citizen Army on a rooftop (see the original in this Spectator article) and members of Cumann Na mBan on parade. For the photo of the building in the top left, see this Irish Times article.

The previous Ardoyne – Bone – Ligoniel mural fell down almost as soon as it was completed, leaving only the portraits of locals killed during the troubles

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03376 X03377 céad blıaın an fíorú na poblachta irish republic to the people of ireland proclamation Joseph Plunkett, Sean MacDiarmada, James Connolly, Padraig Pearse, Éamonn Ceannt, Thomas MacDonagh.

Gal Gréıne

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03392 2016-04-12 Ardoyne Fianna+

Here is a Na Fıanna Éıreann (tw) mural in Ardoyne with Easter lilies on each side of the Fıanna’s ‘sunburst’ (gal gréıne) emblem (which also includes a pike or bill).

For a history of sunburst flags, with lots of images, see An Sıonnach Fıonn. A banner sporting an early version of the emblem, owned by Countess Markievicz during the Rising, was recently returned from London to Dublin (Irish Times).

Berwick Road, Ardoyne, north Belfast

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03392 berwick rd

Free Tony Taylor

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03391 2016-04-12 Free Tony Taylor d+

Derry republican and RNU spokesperson Tony Taylor was released under the conditions of the Good Friday agreement. He was jailed for three years in 2011 for possession of a rifle. His license was revoked in March (2016) and he was returned to prison on the grounds that he poses a danger to the public. Both RNU and Sınn Féın have called for his release. (Irish News)

The wide shot of the north side of the top end of Berwick Road show (from left to right) Unwelcome To Ardoyne | Gal Gréıne | For Unity.

03390 2016-04-12 Free Tony Taylor+

03394 2016-04-12 Ardoyne 2016 w+

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X03391 X03390 X03394 berwick rd

St. Comgall’s

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03388-2016-04-08-st-comgalls-1

St. Comgall’s Primary school on Divis Street opened in 1932 and closed in 1988. Here are two of the boards which currently decorate its boarded-up front windows. Above, St. Malachy’s Scout Pipe Band parades its way through the school yard. (If you know anything about the pipe band or the competition it is going to, please leave a comment.) Below, a céılí mór from 1969 is taking place. The school’s location at the bottom of Percy Street put it at the centre of events in 1969 as west Belfast tore itself apart.

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The Undauntable Thought

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03374 2016-04-07 Cead Bliain+

A succession of Irish rebels is shown in this new mural in Andersonstown, west Belfast. It begins (top left) with the rebellion of 1798 and then to the Easter Rising of 1916 at the GPO in Dublin. In the lower left, a pious Padraıg Pearse awaits his execution with rosary beads in hand. There are then shown female figures from Cumann Na mBán and the IRA (see previously: United Irishwomen, Do You Care? and Mothering Sunday In Beechmount), and then Maıréad Farrell in Armagh Women’s Prison (for the original, see Prison Walls). In the bottom right corner there is a blanketman. The busts of Bobby Sands and Joe McDonnell float above the GPO and the last verse of Sands’s The Rhythm Of Time form the epigraph: “It lights the dark of this prison cell, it thunders forth its might, it is the undauntable thought, my friend, the thought that says, “I’m right”.

03373 2016-04-07 Cead Bliain Pearse+

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X03374 X03373 south link 1916 2016 centenary irish republic unbowed unbroken

Neither King Nor Kaiser

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03361 2016-04-04 Connolly House 2016+

Connolly House – Belfast headquarters of Sınn Féın – for the centenary of the Easter Rising bears the same banner as flew on the ITGWU’s Liberty Hall (in Dublin) during the first world war (see image below) until the building was destroyed during the Rising: We serve neither king nor kaiser, but Ireland! The house was purchased by Sınn Féın in 1983 and brought to its current condition in 2007 (Irish Times).

For a previous appearance of the slogan, on the shirts of a Glasgow flute band, see Business As Usual.

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X03361 andersonstown road