UDA lieutenant Jackie Coulter was killed, along with Bobby Mahood, as part of the UVF-UDA feud of 2000. The earliest date we have for this mural is 2001, which would mean that it was painted separately from the Johnny Adair C Coy murals of 2000 and 2002.
“In proud and loving memory [of] republican activists who dedicated their lives to a noble cause”. “To those who come to think and pray remember well the price they paid. Lives were given, for our country to be free, lives were taken, to keep us on our knees. From 1916 to the present day our struggle continues, our enemies the same. But we know, and they know, that one day our country will be united, Gaelic, and free.” The cross in the foreground is dedicated to Louis Scullion, an IRA volunteer from Unity Flats who was shot by the British Army in July 1972.
“Feriens, tego” or “Striking, I Defend” is the motto of the Ulster Freedom Fighters, the cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association, whose motto is in the main mural: “Quis separabit” or “Who will separate [us]?”.
“Free our prisoners.” “LPA” is the “Loyalist Prisoners Association”. Its symbol (in the second image) is a red hand in barbed wire. In the main mural, a pair of red hands are in shackles and the fences of the Maze are superimposed on an outline of Northern Ireland filled in with the walls of the Maze/Long Kesh.
“4000 years of Ulster-Scots history and heritage. Ulster & Scotland – shared language, shared literature, shared culture.” 400 years takes us back to the plantation; 4000 years suggests an even deeper connection.
Ulster-Scots was included in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement under the principle of support for “linguistic diversity”. This mural celebrating Ulster-Scots and ties between Northern Ireland and Scotland dates to 1999, with the crests of St Andrew and St Patrick on the left, and an Ulster Banner and Scottish lion rampant on the right.
“Dinnae houl yer wheest, houl yer ain!” [Don’t hold your tongue, hold your own!]
Cluan Place is a single street of 25 houses in east Belfast, hemmed in by the shops on the Albertbridge Road and by a “peace” line separating it from the (nationalist) Short Strand. Tensions between the two areas were particularly high in the early 2000s – see this Guardian article from 2002.
“You are now entering loyalist Sandy Row, heartland of South Belfast Ulster-Freedom [sic] Fighters”. The background of the large mural at the junction of Linfield Road and Sandy Row, Belfast, is repainted blue (from its original yellow.)
Bouquets of tricoloured flowers are placed on the Free Ireland mural at the corner of Beechmount Avenue and Falls Road, Belfast. A hand clasping an Easter lily is manacled by bonds “Made in Britain”. The mural is now in its fifteenth year. For the plaque, see the original 1990 post.
The Continuity IRA (CIRA) broke from the Provisionals back in 1986 over the issue of abstentionism in Dáıl Éıreann, but did not begin military attacks until the ceasefire in 1994. This somewhat cryptic graffiti in Beechmount Avenue, Belfast, insists that recent events such as a split in the organisation and decommissioning by the Provisionals will change the CIRA’s status. “CIRA – 2. Delayed No Chance”