Ivan Little of the Belfast Telegraph reports on Monday, 3 October 2011
"The UVF has raised tensions and angered community workers and residents in east Belfast by starting to paint another controversial mural of masked paramilitaries wielding guns."
He states it’s the third militaristic mural to go up in the Shankill Road area in recent months and that the new mural replaces a memorial to four of the UVF’s old and more recent leaders including Robert ‘Squeaky’ Seymour who was allegedly murdered by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) at his shop in June 1988. But the prior mural didn’t have any guns. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland formed in early 1966.
Several Shankill Road leaders have been trying to re-brand murals in the area to reflect its cultural and sporting icons instead of lauding violence.
Near the new mural is a mural in tribute to "Chronicles of Narnia" author CS Lewis who was from East Belfast.
A loyalist source claimed the new UVF mural was a direct response to one which was unveiled in the Whiterock area of west Belfast in May depicting an IRA firing party at the 1981 funeral of hunger striker Bobby Sands.
Full Belfast Telegraph Article: "Return of terror murals to Belfast streets angers residents."
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