hood/mask/balaclava

Ulster’s Present Defenders

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This is the matching pair to Ulster’s Past Defenders, which featured the B Specials and UDR. Ulster’s Present Defenders are the “undefeated” (“invicta”) UFF, who are shown here taking a sledgehammer to someone’s front door. The quotation on the rights is a modified version of the Declaration of Arbroath: “For as long as one hundred of us remain alive we shall never in anyway consent to submit to the Irish. For it’s not for glory, honour or riches we fight but for freedom alone which no man loses but with his life.” The gunman in the lower right is famous from a mural (M02474) – now gone – in the lower Shankill.

Carnany estate, Ballymoney

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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Scotland, England, Wales

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After almost fourteen years the long-standing Rising Sons Flute Band mural off Newtownards Road (at the old Bright Street) has been replaced with a mural to the (modern) YCV, the youth division of the UVF. The vine of flowers in yellow includes the shamrock, thistle, and Tudor rose (but not the daffodil of Wales, which is named along with Scotland, England, and the YCV battalions of east Belfast extending to Newtownards and Bangor).

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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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South Belfast Volunteers

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The main panel (shown below) is a tribute to soldiers in the Great War (1914-1918), with a border of poppies and silhouetted soldiers reflecting over helmets on crosses. To the side, however, is the modern UVF volunteer (shown above), with balaclava and assault rifle.

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Boom

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Three members of the Miami Showband were killed in 1975 at a fake check-point set by members of the UVF’s Glennane Gang. The explosion during the incident did not kill the musicians (as the graffiti on the poster above in loyalist east Belfast suggests); they were shot. Rather, a bomb exploded prematurely as it was being planted on their van, killing two of the attackers – see Boyle & Somerville – prompting the shooting spree (WP) that left three of the five band-members dead.

For the mural in the background, see Please Pay Here.

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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East East Belfast

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This hooded gunman from the East Belfast UVF – like the series of stencils featured previously in EB UVF – is on a wall in Newtownards’s Westwinds estate. Below is a EB UVF mural at the bottom of Bowtown, not far from the West Belfast UDA mural in Greenwell St. The UVF and UDA also compete in the Glen estate; compare Today’s Local with Our Heritage In Your Hands.

Questions about EB UVF lawlessness in north Down arose over the summer with a “business opportunity” presented to local hostelries (Belfast Live | ITV).

X06083 2018-08-28 East Belfast Battalion+

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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North Down West Belfast

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Here are two UDA/UFF “North Down – West Belfast” boards, one in Clandeboye Road, Bangor (above) and the other in Lenamore Park, Newtownards (below). The UDA in North Down is split into two factions, one associated with the Shankill (west Belfast) UDA and the other with the East Belfast UDA. The former is based primarily in Newtownards, but not exclusively, as the board above shows. It is also remarkable for its use of hooded gunmen in “active” poses.

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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EB UVF

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06080 2018-08-27 EB UVF Westwinds+

These “East Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force” stencils are all over the Westwinds estate in Newtownards. Four are shown here, including one that has been defaced with some illegible graffiti. For the tension between East Belfast and North Down brigades of the UVF, see previously: Always A Little Further.

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Monkstown UFF

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2014-08-27 MonkstownUFF1stBatt+

The background, at least, has been repainted on this UFF mural in Monkstown with three hooded gunmen in balaclavas, black jackets, and blue jeans posing with assault rifles on an outline of the north coast in the colours of the Northern Irish flag. For the original, see Monkstown UFF 1st Batt.

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Inclusion

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2013-06-28 CarrickfMural+

“Progression Requires Inclusion” – a new UVF mural (painted last Saturday, 2013-06-22) in Carrickfergus shows a balaclava’d head and assault rifle. Wide shot below. For the three boards, see End Political Censorship. For the two boards, see It’s Dangerous To Be Right.

2013-06-28 CarrickfWide+

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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