POWs

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]

No Consent, No Parade

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Parading was the central on-the-ground issue of the post-Agreement years (BBC). Resistance to Orange Order parades marching through CNR areas was led by local groups: in Derry, by the Bogside Residents’ Group, in Portadown, by the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition, and in lower Ormeau by Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group. In each case, residents were appealing directly to the local lodges and to the police. (The Parades Commission would be established in 1998.)

In 1995, there was a three-day stand-off on the Gavraghy Road that resulted in a silent march without bands (CAIN). The police initially re-routed the 1996 march but reversed the decision at the last minute, citing the threat of loyalist violence, and forced residents off the street in order to accommodate the parade.

Rossville Street, Bogside, Derry

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Copyright © 1996 Peter Moloney
M01266