British forces

Lives Were Given, Lives Were Taken

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“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.

Plunkett Court, Belfast

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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
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Copyright © 2010 Peter Moloney
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Slán Abhaıle

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By 2002, the “Time for peace, time to go” mural in Beechfield Street, Belfast, painted in 1997, was beginning to show its age. The image is based on a photograph of British forces in the Falklands.

The image was also produced in Ardoyne (north Belfast), above the Sınn Féın offices/Sıopa Na hEalaíne (west Belfast), on Free Derry Corner, in Shantallow (Derry), and in Letterkenny.

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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
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Hegarty And Bradley

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“On July 31st 2001 two tree were planted on the grounds of Sean Dolan‘s GFC to commemorate Daniel Hegarty (15) and Seamus Bradley (19) murdered by British Troops during Operation Motorman on July 31st 1972.” Both teens were from Creggan. It is alleged that IRA volunteer Bradley was taken away and tortured after being shot; calls for an inquiry continue (Derry Journal | Pensive Quill).

Bligh’s Lane, Derry

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Copyright © 2002 Peter Moloney
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Comhıonannas Do Gach Duıne

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Scots Guardsmen Mark Wright and James Fisher, who served six years of a life sentence for the killing of Peter McBride and then rejoined the army, are compared to republican POWs: “An open letter to the British Secretary of State: Why does your government show preferential treatment to ‘state murders’ while discriminating against Irish POWs – we are denied employment, PSV license, no adoption, compensation, visas. Why? Signed St James’s POWs. Co[m]hıonannas do gach duıne” (equality for everyone)

Donegall Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
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The Gibraltar Three

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The Gibraltar Three (Maıréad Farrell, Sean Savage, Dan McCann) – “executed by British crown forces in Gibraltar 6th March 1988” – are memorialised with a plaque and the last three verses of Bobby Sands’s Rhythm Of Time: “It is found in every light of hope/It knows no bounds nor space/It has risen in red and black and white/It is there in every race.//It lies in the hearts of heroes dead/It screams in tyrants’ eyes/It has reached the peak of mountains high/It comes searing ‘cross the skies.//It lights the dark of this prison cell/It thunders forth its might/It is the undauntable thought, my friend/That thought that says ‘I’m right!'”

Hawthorn Street, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
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Springhill-Westrock Massacre

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On 9th July, 1972, British Army snipers fired from Corry’s timber yard overlooking the Westrock bungalows. Five civilians were killed: John Dougal, Margaret Gargan, Fr Noel Fitzpatrick, David McCafferty, Patrick Butler. The memorial garden shown here is in Westrock Drive, Belfast. For close-ups, see Life Spills On Warm Summer Streets.

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Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
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