the "troubles" of northern ireland

between 1969 and 1998 over 3500 people were killed in violence between protestant and catholics in northern ireland. although the killing has ended teh two sides really dont like each other. while in belfast we took a "black taxi" tour of the sectarian neighborhoods of belfast. we also wend to derry,the other city that had the most violence. In both cities there are murals depicting events of the troubles or in memory of "martyrs" to the cause. there are also memorials to specific acts of violence.
herea a sample

this is along the falls road in belfast its a wall of murals



a mural dedicated to bobby sands,one of the famous IRA hunger strikers. on teh side of the sinn fein headquarters


a memorial to the people of one area in belfast who died in the troubles. behind it you can see part of one of the "peace walls" these are walls erected to keep the 2 sides apart. they were built high to prevent shooting over them. they have gates in them that close each night at 7pm preventing teh 2 sides from entering each others neighborhoods at night



part of the same garden. you can see the peace wall and also the protection around the patio's of the houses that abut the wall


a mural from a loyalist (protestant ) area. the protestant murals tend to be more millitant


another protestant mural. the UFF and the UDA are both loyalist paramilitary groups




now were in derry (also known as londonderry)
this is the famous free derry sign. free derry was a neighborhod in derry in the bogside that was were the violence began


there is a group of artists in the bogside (the main catholic sectarian neighborhood of derry) that painted a group of murals depicting the violence

this is one of their murals,commemorating free derry


this is their mural to the victims of bloody sunday


the bloody sunday memorial. bloody sunday was a massacre committed by british troops on unarmed protestors that resulted in 13 deaths in 1972. it was made famous in a song by U2. in 2010 the british PM apologized for the massacre