“DUP Out” – another expression of discontent at how Brexit is affecting Northern Ireland and the DUP’s role in the negotiations. See previously: Arlene Must Go. For the mural, see Welcome To The Shankill Road.
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‘Men Of Iron’ is the name of a 1922 William Conor painting, showing shipyard workers in the shadow of a great ship (you can see it at ArtUK). The painter himself was rendered in bronze (by sculptor Holger Lönze) and stands on the Shankill at the corner with Northumberland Street.
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Graffiti in Gardiner Place in the wake of Brexit and the NI Protocol: above, “all taigs [Catholics] are targets” with crosshairs; below, “Brexit needs us to exit the EU”.
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“Our forefathers fought for our freedom and rights – no border in the sea or we continue the fight.” The uppermost placard – showing a hooded gunman – appeared in various town and drew complaints to the PSNI, who said that they were working with local groups to secure its removal (Irish News). It was condemned by UUP and DUP politicians (BelTel). The instance here is on a pole outside Armagh gaol. For most of its existence (beginning in 1780), HM Prison Armagh was a women-only institution. Its inmates included the three republican prisoners who went on hunger strike in 1980, simultaneously with men in Long Kesh/Maze. The building ceased to function as a gaol in 1986.
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In the gunrunning by the Ulster Volunteers in April 1914, immediately upon docking in Larne weapons and ammunition were offloaded from the SS Clyde Valley onto two motor-boats which then headed for Donaghadee. A drawing of the unloading there, with the lighthouse in the background, was published as a postcard (you can see the b&w original at History Ireland). This time, of course, it’s not Home Rule that threatens unionists but the NI Protocol that is part of Brexit. “Play your part in opposing the border in the Irish Sea – Markethill stands up.”
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Sandy Row Marching Band Supplies (Fb) has this Somme commemoration flag in a number of variations (“South Belfast”, “Loyal Carrick”, etc). Perhaps the “West Belfast” version has sold out, as this “North Belfast” flag is actually flying along Cupar Way in the middle Shankill.
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“If our shores are threatened/We will take up arms/To defend our loyal cause/Our culture and our heritage/Our freedoms and our laws.” Moygashel’s own (William) Wesley Somerville, a member of both the UVF and UDR, was killed by a bomb prematurely exploding as he placed it on the minibus of the Miami Showband in July of 1975. Three members of the band died, one of them Protestant, along with volunteers Somerville and Harris Boyle from Portadown (WP). “He died for Ulster” (on the plaque).
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More anti-Good Friday/Belfast Agreement sentiment, this time from Dungannon, and this time claiming not that support has been withdrawn from the Agreement but that it was not supported in the first place: “Loyalist Eastvale Avenue says ‘No’ to Irish Sea border – Anti-GF 1998, still anfi-GFA 2021”.
Also in this street: memorial plaque to LVF leader Billy Wright.
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On Thursday of last week the Loyalist Communities Council, which represents the various loyalist paramilitary groups – all of which are proscribed organisations – in a letter sent to both Micheál Martin and Boris Johnson temporarily withdrew their support for the Good Friday or Belfast Agreement in protest over the NI Protocol that is part of Brexit (Guardian | BBC). These Moygashel UVF boards go further, threatening violence in response to a law seen as unjust.
From left to right: “Ulster 1912 2021 – compare with Deserted, Well I Can Stand Alone which shows the date as 1914. Time to decide!” “Our forefathers fought for our freedom and rights. No border in the sea or we continue the fight.” “Belfast Agreement null & void”, “UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade – when injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.”
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This time last year, Portadown True Blues flute band (Fb) was preparing for a trip to Toronto, Canada, for an international celebration of the Twelfth (News Letter) but it was cancelled on account of the pandemic. This blue board was an update of their long-standing purple mural in Edgarstown next to the Somme mural, also featured below (and previously in In Answer To The Echo Of Alarm.
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