physical force

City Hall Stained Glass

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Here is a gallery of seven pieces of stained glass in Belfast City Hall. BCC has a guide to all of the stained-glass windows in the Hall.

1 (above): North Irish Horse, and in particular, the WWII battles it participated in (listed at the bottom of the window).

2 (below): Spanish Civil War

3 Cú Chulaınn – seen previously in Ulster’s Defence Force. See also the Visual History page In The Shadow Of Cú Chulaınn.

4: The Dockers’ Strike – seen previously in One Big Union.

5: The Famine Window. See also the Visual History page on The Great Hunger.

6: The Pathways Window – according to the guide, this window commemorates the pain caused to the relatives of deceased persons from whom organs were taken without consent.

7: The Centenary Window

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Meet The New Boss

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This UVF poster urges residents of east Belfast who owe money to loan sharks not to sell drugs or find some other way to pay it back, but instead to get in touch with a political representative.

The Sunday World reported that repayments are being withheld after the Shankill UVF ordered the leadership in East Belfast UVF to stand down (in November 2023 – IRN | BBC) and took over the operation. The posters thus come from the old (East Belfast) guard, trying to thwart the new bosses and hoping to resume collection themselves.

SDLP councillor Séamus De Faoıte commented (in the Irish News), “Anyone who has knowledge of criminal activity or exploitation of vulnerable people should report it to the relevant authorities, but people do not need to take any lessons from the UVF when it comes to upholding the law.” (Also: BelTel)

Meanwhile, the endingtheharm.com campaign (part of the Executive/DOJ’s programme designed to tackle “paramilitary activity and organised crime”) continues. See They Control You for a 2019 version. For the mural on the right of the final image, see Herbie McCallum.

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Let The Fight Go On

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This is a west Belfast instance of INLA graffiti – seen previously in Derry (Saoırse Go Deo) – celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the group’s founding, in December, 1974.

The Lasaır Dhearg (web) stencils go back to 2020; see Britain’s Occupation Of Ireland.

Waterford St, west Belfast, replacing Israel Get Out Of Palestine.

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Though An Army Besiege Me, My Heart Will Not Fear

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In 2000, during the Second Intifada, Palestinian teenager Faris Odeh was photographed by an AP photographer in the act of throwing a stone at an Israeli tank. He was shot and killed a few days later and the image became a symbol of resistance. (A mural of the photograph was painted in Springhill: see David And Goliath.) The iconic image is updated here for Israel’s current invasion of Gaza, showing a young girl with a soft toy standing in front of a tank that is bedecked with the flags of the European Union, France, the USA, the UK, and Germany.

The F-16 jets and rubble and child with teddy-bear are the same as in the We Stand With Palestine mural in Ardoyne.

For the teddy-bears and soft toys, see Boycott Israeli Genocide and It Could Be You.

For the Easter Rising mural, see The Undauntable Thought.

South Link, Andersonstown, west Belfast. Launched November 18th, 2023 (PD Fb).

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from the river to the sea will be free Mickey Doherty

30 Years On

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A service was held yesterday in West Kirk Presbyterian to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the bombing of Frizzell’s fish shop on the Shankill Road. As part of the ceremony, wreaths were laid at the new memorial marking the spot on the Shankill where the bomb exploded, killing nine locals — hence the Arabic “9” among the Roman numerals on the clock face — and one of the bombers (ITv footage). The clock shows the date and time that the bomb went off: 1:06 pm on Saturday October 23rd, 1993.

The new ‘clock’ memorial replaces the three plaques seen in Frizzell’s (though the circular plaque might have been incorporated into this new memorial); the board of portraits served as the cover for the memorial in the days prior to unveiling and was placed over the credit union’s ATM.

West Kirk also contains a stone and bench to the victims of the Shankill bombing. Nine trees were also planted in their memory: John Frizzell, Sharon McBride Leanne Murray, Michael Morrison, Evelyn Baird, Michelle Baird, George Williamson, Gillian Williamson, Wilma McKee.

“We remember those who were killed, those who survived and those lives changed forever.”

“‘And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away’ Revelations 21 v4”

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Drop The Rents

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RSYM/IRSP/INLA (Xitter) are campaigning for landlords to keep their rents at the LHA (Local Housing Allowance, a.k.a. housing benefit) levels (set by the Housing Executive). They assert that it is exploitative for private landlords to use the housing shortage as a reason for higher rents.

Beechmount graffiti.

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Highland Fusiliers

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March 10th was the 53rd anniversary of the killings of three Highland Fusiliers, Dougald McCaughey and teen-aged brothers Joseph and John McCaig, who were drinking in a city centre pub and lured to their deaths in north Belfast at the hands of the (Provisional) IRA. The killings led to the resignation of NI prime minister James Chichester-Clark and an increase, to 18, in the minimum age for service (WP).

There is a monument in Ballysillan and a stone to the three in Ligoniel near the spot where they were executed, and a mural in Rathcoole.

This mural is at the Rangers Supporters’ Club in Carrickfergus. Also from the Club: a gallery of Rangers’ Managers in We Welcome The Chase | commemorative murals to the 36th Division in A Name That Equals Any In History and to the UDR in Some Gave All | various others from the laneway and courtyard in We Don’t Do Walking Away, and from inside and from the side patio in The Rangers That I Love.

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Changed Priorities

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In the post of the new Sam Rockett mural in Woodvale – Essence And Space – we said that the “peace” line separating Wyndham Street from the rest of Torrens had been taken down as the area was redeveloped from roughly 2008-2012. As can be seen from this gallery of images, however, some of the infrastructure remains, particularly the school building (former site of Naíscoil Bheann Mhadaigáin (Belfast Media profile)) and the adjacent waste-ground in Torrens Crescent, which remain undeveloped. The alley to Cliftonville is gated at both ends.

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Our Identity

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The Ulster Unionist Council organised the signing of the Covenant in September, 1912, and in January 1913 voted to bring together the militias that had been formed in various places into an Ulster Volunteer Force. One of these was a South Belfast battalion that had formed in 1912 (History Ireland). Hence, both “1912” and “1913” are given as dates for the creation of the battalion. When the Volunteers were integrated into the Ulster Division for the Great War, the South Belfast Volunteers joined the 10th battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles.

Of course, the boards above and immediately below concerning the 1912/1913 Ulster Volunteers serve double duty alongside the three other boards shown here which concern the modern UVF and the current protests against Brexit/NI Protocol/Windsor Framework.

The advertising hoarding has been informally re-purposed by the UVF for several years, and its de-commercialisation is now complete with the addition of this printed board.

“Loyalist Village says No! to an Irish Sea border.” “The prevention of the erosion of our identity , our culture and our heritage. We will preserve this no matter the cost. We will not be the generation to fail Ulster.”

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