RUC/PSNI

Keep The Orange Order Out

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Two boards in Welsh Street, south Belfast: “Vote Sınn Féın’s [Seán] Hayes. Keep the Orange Order out. May 21st No. 1” and “93% Protestant, 100% Unionist – Disband the RUC.” The figure on the left is a three-in-one RUC officer, Orange Order member, and loyalist paramilitary. Hayes was elected fourth from the Laganbank district, taking a seat from the SDLP.

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Copyright © 1997 Peter Moloney
M01345

The Place That Time Forgot

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Harryville is an area of Ballymena with a small Catholic population which needed police protection to attend mass. The Independent called it “the town where hatred burns stronger than hope“. With “No RUC”, “No watch towers”, “Free Róisín McAliskey“, and a green ribbon for the campaign to free POWs.

Park Ave, Derry

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Copyright © 1997 Peter Moloney
M01321

Bloody Sunday 97/Róısín McAliskey

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Stencils in Lecky Road, Derry. Above, a giant eye for the 25th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Below, “Free Róısín McAliskey”. McAliskey (daughter of Bernadette Devlin McAliskey) was arrested in 1996 in connection with an attack on a British Army base in Germany and held until March 1998. The “No RUC” features a skeleton and appears to be hand-drawn.

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Copyright © 1997 Peter Moloney
M01315 M01314 [M01373 is another ‘Bloody Sunday 97’ in William st]

Nothing Has Changed

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Jeff Perks’s 1979 linotype “The Training Ground” serves as the inspiration for a 1996 mural in Glenfada Park, Derry. A sash has been added to the policeman on the left, and the British Army soldier on the right has become an RUC officer in riot gear. (The whole of Perks’s piece was reproduced in Belfast.)

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Copyright © 1996 Peter Moloney
M01277 M01278 M01279

Trimble Calls The Shots, RUC Fires

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Two by the same hand in William Street, Derry: “Trimble calls the shots, RUC fires” and “UUP/RUC”. David Trimble was leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 1995 to 2005. The issue referenced here is perhaps Trimble’s involvement in the Garvaghy Road dispute, either that he conveyed a threat from the UVF’s Billy Wright to UK Home Secretary Patrick Mayhew, or his admission that he pressured the DPP and the RUC to prosecute the leaders of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition.

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Copyright © 1996 Peter Moloney
M01262 M01263