“This mural is dedicated to the memory of those killed and maimed by rubber & plastic bullets fired by the police & British Army. Not one member of the security forces ever served a day in jail for the deaths, many of them children, despite the courts ruling on the innocence of the victims. Plastic bullets are still being used on the streets of the north of Ireland today.”
There were initially nine panels (of 15 victims each) but as the wide shot above shows, six more have now been added, so that the memorial to seventeen people killed by rubber or plastic bullets since 1970 is at the centre of 15 panels of portraits, in a wall “dedicated to the families who have fought and are still fighting for truth and justice for their loved ones. It is also dedicated to all those who have died as a result of state-sponsored killings. This Project is a work in progress and is not conclusive. If you wish a loved one to be included please contact An Fhírınne … Tá an balla seo tıomnaıthe do na teaghlaıgh a throıd agus atá ag troıd go fóıll, thar ceann a muıntıre ıonúıne, ar son na fírınne agus na córa. Tá sé tıomnaıthe fosta dóıbh sıúd uılıg a fuaır bás de dheasca maruıthe státurraıthe. Obaır ıdır lamha atá sa tıonscnamh seo agus níl sé críochnaıthe go fóıll. Dá mba mhıan leat duıne de do mhuıntır ıonúın féın a bheıth curtha san áıreamh, ıarrtar ort teagmháıl a dhéanamh leıs An Fhírınne.”
“Fuaır sıad bás ar son na hÉıreann. To the memory of all members and friends of the Official IRA who gave their lives in pursuit of the establishment of a democratic socialist republic in Ireland, in common cause with men and women of all nations struggling for liberty, equality and fraternity between all the peoples of the world.” Joe McCann beneath the Plough In The Stars is shown in the bottom left.
Two sides of the same board, in the front yard of Connolly House (Sınn Féın headquarters on the Andersonstown Road). Top, “sometimes it takes a 4-letter word to be heard … vótáıl Sınn Féın” with four moments of protest – votes for women, Civil Rights, Sands’s election, Sands. Bottom, 95th anniversary Easter Rising commemoration with (1981 hunger striker) Pat Sheehan as the main speaker.
“Here marks the spot where baby Angela Gallagher, aged 17 months, was shot while strolling to the sweet shop with her sister Paula on the 3rd September 1971.” Gallagher was shot by an IRA sniper attacking a British Army patrol (Sutton).
A call for “truth” and “justice” concerning the Ballymurphy Massacre. “11 people in west Belfast from the Greater Ballymurphy neighbourhood were murdered by the British Army as internment without trial was violently carried out on August 9th, 1971. Proper police investigations were never undertaken and no one has served a day in prison for causing these deaths. The familys [sic] of those murdered deserve and demand the truth be told by the state about its policies and actions of those who carried them out.” The 11 are (clockwise) Eddie Docherty [Doherty], Joseph Corr, John McKerr, John Laverty, Joan Connolly, Fr Hugh Mullan, Danny Teggart, Joseph Murphy, Paddy McCarthy, Frank Quinn, Noel Philips.
Beechmount Avenue/Ascaıll Ard Na bhFeá, west Belfast
Update: plaque added to the right, blocking out the “U” and “S” of “justice”.