Here is a snapshot from the protest camp at Twaddell Avenue, established in July 2013, which remains in place at the junction with the Crumlin Road. The most recent newspaper mention of the protest appears to be this December 29th report in the Newsletter.
Slí Na Gaeltachta (The Gaeltacht Way) is a 2.5-mile trail of twenty-six “art and heritage” stops from the city centre to the Whiterock Road in west Belfast. A gaeltacht is an Irish-speaking region.
See previously: Onwards – memorial mural to Clive Dutton, author of the Dutton Report calling for the regeneration of west Belfast by (in part) developing its Irish-language identity.
The two images featured today are of carved panels in the Falls Garden Of Remembrance (with the gold-plated surround removed). The garden commemorates fallen members of (IRA) D company but the panels suggest a wider appreciation of lower Falls residents. The same is also true of the mural in the background of the wide shot (third image, below), for which see Cry “Havoc”.
The third of three new panels celebrating the Apprentice Boys contains a long description of the Shutting Of The Gates in December 1688 and the Siege Of Derry, which was ended with the breaking of the boom of the river Foyle in July 1689.
Brian “Herbie” McCallum was a 29 year-old attending a contentious loyalist parade to Whiterock Orange Hall, being re-routed by the RUC, when the grenade he was carrying exploded prematurely, killing him instantly. The mural and memorial shown above is at the top of Ainsworth Avenue, close to the spot of the incident. He died in hospital three days later. (CAIN | Border & Border Politics | Irish News article at Nuzhound | Independent)
This panel (one of three) of a new mural on the Shankill celebrates the Stirling Protestant Boys Flute Band and its association with the Shankill Road: “Stirling Protestant Boys Flute Band [Fb] were formed in February 2003 and to this day take part in parades across Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. The band has a great connection with our friends from Belfast, especially those from the Greater Shankill area. In November 2012 Stirling Protestant Boys were presented with the battle honours of the Young Citizen Volunteers and the 36th (Ulster) Division. The band would like to thank the people of the Shankill Road for their continued support.”
Two murals by Mark Bodé (web) and another in his style (and that of his father, Vaughan Bodé). The first is on the Cupar Way “peace” line and shows a disgruntled caveman and the Yellow Hat character; the second is in the Lecky Road underpass in London-/Derry and shows the character Cobalt 60; and the third is a promotional mural in the style of the Bodés in Gresham Street. All three date to this (2015) summer, when Bodé came to Derry for the ‘Release The Pressure’ street art festival. (Bodé’s official piece for the festival, painted with Dave Bonzai, can be seen in Metalmorphosis.)
Included in the black taxi tours of the murals of west Belfast is a stop along the Cupar Way “peace” line and an invitation to take a black marker and leave one’s mark. A designated name-tag with “Hello my name is …” was even painted for the purpose – see the image below. Many sign their names while others leave an inspiring slogan. In the image above alone you can read “Build legacies, not walls”; “It is easier to take a life than protect a life – decide you for peace!”; “A wish for peace, a hope for understanding, a belief in love”; “Don’t let the darkness consume you”; “Love lives longer than hate”; and so on. Bromides such as these have elicited the commentary in white from a local graffitist.