The Belfast Blitz

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In the “Belfast Blitz” of April and May 1941, during WWII, 900 people died and half the homes in Belfast were destroyed or damaged (WP). In the apex of this mural, a Nazi bomber sets buildings alight; in the main panel, people, including a milkman, walk among the bombed-out buildings, while others (bottom right) test out a piano that has been moved. 

On the side-wall to the right is a painted frame surrounding a manufactured plaque with the names of locals who died in the blitz.

By JMK (Jonny McKerr – Fb) in Hogarth Street, Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast. Both the lamp-post and the electrical box have been painted into the mural.

McKerr also did a piece in the area of images from WWI – see The Home Front.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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The Home Front

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The central image of soldiers at the battle of the Somme is surrounded by images of various occupations: shipyard workers and miners (perhaps), along with images of women welding, carrying coke, and nursing. It’s not clear what the “fair wartime wage” refers to: there was a general strike at the shipyards in 1919 (The Great Unrest | Workers’ Liberty). 

The nurse is apparently the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (WP). The image of a person carrying a sack of coke is from the Imperial War Museum’s collection.

The lower wall is intended to be full, but painting has ceased indefinitely.

Artist Jonny McKerr (Fb) also did a similarly-styled piece on The Belfast Blitz.

Edlingham Street, Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast

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John Bunting

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“John Bunting MI5 tout”. This Tiger’s Bay placard is an indicator of the continued tensions within the North Belfast UDA that first came to public attention in December 2013. John Bunting was arrested in September (2014) and charged with the attempted murder of John Borland and Andre Shoukri, from the opposing faction.

(See Split for links to articles from 2013; for the latest, see Belfast Daily and Belfast Live.)

Mervue Street, north Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Yeomna Qadm

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“Viva Palestine”. This pro-Palestine mural features sky-jacker Leila Khaled (also seen in in Hugo Street) and the emblem of the Popular Front For The Liberation Of Palestine (WP). The Arabic on the right is an equivalent of “Tıocfaıdh ár lá” on the left.

See also: The same elements used in another mural Oppression Breeds Resistance | The Popular Front in Northumberland Street | “Viva Palestine” in Ardoyne and on Black Mountain/Slıabh Dubh

AMCOMRI Street, off Beechmount Avenue/Ascaıll Ard na bhFeá, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Cogús

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“End internment by remand – End forced strip searches – End controlled movement”.

Fists are raised in defiance of the police state (both PSNI/NIPS and Gardaí/IPS). Cogús (meaning “conscience”) is the division of the Republican Network for Unity (Fb) concerned with political prisoners.

Beechmount Avenue, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Collusion Untried

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This Beechmount Avenue board reproduces five pages from the 2007 O’Loan report detailing the various ways in which the security services colluded with (mostly loyalist) paramilitaries; below the pages are a list of victims’ websites and the titles of two “books of interest”.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Stop Tory Cuts

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“Stad na cıorruıthe. Stand up, fight back.” The (UK) Conservative Party has proposed a series of cuts, including a freeze of child benefit, income support, tax credits, dole, and housing benefit. These are opposed by various parties and advocacy groups in both Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Protest rallies were held in both Belfast and Dublin in October last year (2014-10-11).

The mural above is on the Divis Street international wall (Visual History).

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Kieran Nugent

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Keiran Nugent (and Brendan Hughes) has been returned to the left-most spot on the International Wall.

This new board is closely based on the mural which was painted over in October in advance of the November 9th non-binding referendum in Catalonia (see Votes About Votes; the yellow background and some of the lettering from the Catalonia mural can still be seen in the image above).

Nugent and Maıréad Farrell were then included in the hunger-strikers mural further down the wall: see I’ll Wear No Convict’s Uniform.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Cross Of Crosses

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“The Cross Of Crosses – marking 45 years of conflict in Northern Ireland 1969-2014. Let this be the year the conflict ends. Sponsored by: George McIlroy, IGNITE 2014”

The sculpture, which contains 45 small crosses, was designed by Ross Wilson.

Between the security gates on Northumberland Street, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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