UDA/UFF/UYM

Benson Kingsberry

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When the UFF hooded gunman were removed from the corner of Kilburn Street and Donegall Road in 2009, a memorial panel to the UDA’s Stephen “Benson” Kingsberry, who died from consuming tainted ecstasy (perhaps distributed by the UVF) was again included, illustrated with a poppy – an early use of what has become common in 2017: UDA (rather than UVF) poppies, as seen in Fulton & Goatley | Common Sense | Sandy Row Remembers. For the main mural see Progress.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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No Justice

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Mervyn and Rosaleen McDonald were Catholics living in the mixed Longlands area of Newtownabbey when they were visited by “UFF loyalist assassins” and shot dead in front of their two young children. The killings are described in most detail in Jack Holland’s Too Long A Sacrifice, which contains an interview with the gunman and the claim that the unit had access to RUC files (p. 94). They are buried in Milltown Cemetery (see final image).

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04628 X04629 Seamus Costello | Pat Finucane 25 | Askatasuna

Ulster Defence Association

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A 1972 Victor Patterson photograph of a UDA mobile patrol in the Oldpark is recreated for this new mural in the Village, south Belfast. “The UDA was formed in September 1971 for most of this time it was a legal organisation. It’s [sic] declared goal was to defend Ulster loyalist Protestant areas and to combat Irish republicanism mainly the IRA. The UDA/UFF declared a ceasefire in 1994 it ended its campaign in 2007.”

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X04592 X04593 X04594 X04591 rockview st

South East Antrim Remembers

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This new South East Antrim 2nd battalion UDA/UFF mural in Glengormley prominently uses poppies, usually seen in UVF murals on account of their shared name with the Ulster Volunteers of 1912 and WWI. Replaces They Live With Us.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04600 X04599 X04598 X04597 John Stewart queens ave rathcoole monkstown whitewell greenisland rathfern shore rd glengormley carrickfergus larne braidside whitehead ballymena antrim balltcarry ballyclare newtownards terrae filius quis separabit dedicated to the offices and volunteers of the 2nd battalion

Fulton & Goatley

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UDA members John Fulton and were Stephen Goatley were killed together in the Alexandra Bar on York Road (close to the Mervue Street location of this memorial) by the UVF as part of a UDA-UVF feud in 1975. The poppy is more often associated with the Ulster Volunteers (of WWI) and the UVF.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04410 quis separabit loving memory always be remembered

Common Sense

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 The Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG) (Tw | Fb) is an advisory body to the UDA and produced Common Sense (available at CAIN) in 1987 (and before that, in 1979, NUPRG produced Beyond The Religious Divide, which is mentioned in the long-standing John McMichael mural in Lemberg Street (see We Must Share The Responsibility); this is the side-wall to the new C Coy South Belfast UDA/UFF/UDU/UYM/LPA mural in Tavanagh Street.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04399 X04400 X04401 quis separabit terrae filius

Invictus

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Here is the main part of a new printed mural in the Woodvale area of west Belfast (to be officially launched on Saturday, June 3rd). It celebrates the creation of the Woodvale Defence Association as “Defenders of our community since 1969” which in 1971 merged with other associations to form the UDA, whose youth wing is the UYM (lower middle, “terrae filius” = “sons of the soil”) and which uses “UFF” (upper left, “feriens ego” = “attack to defend”) as a cover for military operation. The final emblem is of the LPA (Loyalist Prisoners’ Association, “quis separabit” = “none shall separate us”). The mural replaced by this one is in the bottom left, while the bottom right contains an image of Long Kesh in 1979. The main photograph is of a 1972 march on the Shankill.

For the side-wall, see Remembering Our Fallen.

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X04167 disraeli st

Remembering Our Fallen

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Here’s the left-hand side of the UDA mural in Disraeli Street being launched today (June 3rd, 2017). As can be seen most clearly in the final, sideways-on, image, both pieces are a combination of printed poster and attached boards. Lines from Laurence Binyon’s poem For The Fallen of WWI are used: “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old/Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun/And in the morning we shall remember them.”

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To Keep Our Ulster Free

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“We have slain him but we fear him/As we stand in silence now/For the hero light still lingers/Like a lantern on his brow. And the wiles of witchcraft jeer him/With the phantoms of our dead/As they moil like may mosquitoes/Round his torn and bleeding head.” Cuchulainn is invoked as a “defender of Ulster” on the UDA memorial stone in the Kilcooley estate. The Red Hand Commando and UVF stones are shown below. The three paramilitary stones were added independently of the WWI garden (BelTel).

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X04095 X04093 X04096 owernroe drive the death call of cuchulainn champion of ulster the sons of ulster’s best who have stood the test? would you take the oath with hand held high are you prepared to die to keep our ulster free it is up to you and me god save ulster is our cry would you weep if i should die remember me when poppies fall for our ulster i gave all tell me i have lived my life well and it has not all been in vain