Long Kesh 1974

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A new mural, above, on the International Wall commemorates the fortieth anniversary this year of the ‘Burning Of Long Kesh’ or the ‘Battle Of Long Kesh’, which took place on the night of October 15, 1974 and day of the 16th (when British Army units retook the camp).

The most comprehensive account available on-line of the conditions at the camp prior to the riot, the burning, and the battle on the morning of the 16th appears to be this 2004 piece in An Phoblacht by Joe Doherty and Christy Keenan. (For a virtual tour of the camp, see this video. Seamus Keenan’s Over The Wire (on again this month at the Derry Playhouse) attempts to recreate the scene.) Other accounts include those by Ronan Bennett, another inmate, in The Guardian. Here is a brief BBC News report from the 16th.

All accounts mention the use of gas and republican accounts state that CR was used on the morning of the 16th in addition to CS, dropped from helicopters as at the top of the mural. The Guardian, in 2005, confirmed that CR had been authorized for use in controlling riots and was available at the prison. CR is a carcinogen (WP) and in a post on his blog (now removed) Mairtin Óg Meehan suspects that exposure to CR is a cause of recent cancers among former prisoners.

In the lower left corner is a quoted telegram from Fr. Denis Faul, Fr. Raymond Murray: “To international Red Cross … Visited Long Kesh today with others … Request immediate investigation into use of CR gas … sub-human conditions … SOS … come immediately …” 20 Oct. 1974. These two wrote an 80-page report on the conditions at the camp following the event, entitled The Flames Of Long Kesh. See this 1999 An Phoblacht page for an image of the shelters constructed after the battle.

The photograph which the central part of the mural reproduces is HU 70205 from the Imperial War Museum’s collection (available at An Phoblact), though this is dated as October 1972.

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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Young Citizen Volunteers

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These Kilburn Street boards commemorate the “Young Citizen Volunteers Of Ireland” and the battle of the Somme. The text in the side-wall board (shown below) is from the diary of a Somme soldier: “We surge forward. Bayonets sparkle and glint. Cries and curses rent the air. Chums fall, some without a word … and others … Oh, my God! May I never hear such cries again! There goes the YCV flag tied to the muzzle of a rifle. That man had nerve! Through the road just ahead of us we had crossed the sunken road. We could see khaki figures rushing the German front line. The Inniskillings had got at them.”

The larger board, on the right, describes the transition from rebels in 1912 to British Army soldiers in 1914: “On the 17th May 1914 the Young Citizen Volunteers became a battalion of the Belfast regiment of the Ulster Volunteer Force. This formed part of the Ulster Division authorised on 28th October 1914 which officially became the 14th battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles, part of the 109th brigade. The 14th saw action throughout the First World War.”

It includes a quote from Edward Carson, “You will find in your ranks men with the same ideals, men with the same loyalty and the same determination to uphold the rights of their country”, and a quote from VC winner William Fredrick McFadzean, “You people at home make me feel quite proud when you tell me I am the soldier boy of the McFadzeans. I hope to play the game and if I don’t add much lustre to it I certainly will not tarnish it.”

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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Margaretta D’Arcy

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Actor and activist Margaretta D’Arcy (here, “Margaritta” D’Arcy) was arrested in October, 2012, for climbing the perimeter of Shannon airport and standing on the runway, in protest at the use of the airport by US military planes. She was jailed – aged 79 – for nine-and-a-half weeks in 2014. (Irish Times | Journal)

The image above is a close-up of the Falls Curfew mural on the International Wall, using one of the painted “posters” that were added for Marian Price in 2012.

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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25 Years On & No Truth

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This board at the junction of the Falls and Glen roads (on the site of the former Andersonstown RUC station) commemorates the death of Pat Finucane (on February 12th, 1989), alleging collusion between the MI5, the UDA, the UDR, and the RUC, and asking for an inquiry.

“25 years on & no truth. Why no public inquiry? Time for justice, time for truth!”

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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Bloody Sunday: Appeal For Witnesses

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After the Saville report (gov.uk) was published in 2010 and the victims of Bloody Sunday were vindicated (see Vindicated/Ceartaıthe), the PSNI took up its own investigation into the events of Bloody Sunday (January 30th, 1972), which is still on-going. The hoarding above – appealing for “any civilians and former soldiers” who gave evidence to Saville – appeared in Letterkenny Road, Derry.

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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Eddie Rides

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Zombie-skeleton Eddie The Trooper rides a black steed in Londonderry’s Fountain area. There’s no explicit reference to loyalist paramilitarism here, though he will readily be understood to be hunting Catholics rather than charging Russians at Balaclava. For background, including the connection to Iron Maiden, see the Visual History page on Eddie.

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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UFF Carrickfergus

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The upper flag on the right-hand side of this mural – purple saltire on a blue background with star and red hand – is the proposed flag of Ulster nationalists. The position was espoused by the UDA of the 1970s, under the guise of the political parties the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party (WP) and the Ulster Democratic Party (WP), and for a time by the Red Hand Commandos under the Ulster Loyalist Central Coordinating Committee (WP).

This is a repaint; for the previous (identical) version, see UFF Carrickfergus.

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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100 Years Of The Covenant

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The mural above uses the text of the Ulster Covenant, signed in September, 1912, as a backdrop to a composite of Edward Carson speaking and a row of Ulster Volunteers, formed in January 1913. (See Extramural Activity for the source photos.)

Alain Miossec has an image of the previous printed version, which is almost identical, apart from Stormont as a backdrop rather than the text of the Covenant.

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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