Tag: Unionists

#OTD in 1973 – The people in the north of Ireland vote overwhelmingly to remain within the United Kingdom.

09/03/2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

The abolition of the Northern Ireland Parliament in 1972 raised the question of whether or not a new Assembly should have the power to determine which state Northern Ireland should belong to. The British government decided to put this question directly to the people every ten years by referendum, and the first (and so far […]

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#OTD in 1989 – Belfast solicitor, Patrick Finucane is murdered by Unionist assassins.

12/02/2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

Pat Finucane, who acted as solicitor for republican hunger striker, Bobby Sands, was shot dead at his north Belfast home in front of his wife and children. The De Silva report into the brutal murder of Pat Finucane, coupled with the prime minister’s searing confession to parliament, revealed probably the worst atrocity by the British […]

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#OTD in 1921 – De Valera received nationalist delegations from counties Down, Derry, Antrim and the city of Belfast who expressed anxiety at partition.

11/09/2022.Reading time 4 minutes.

Referring to the unionists, one Protestant member of the Belfast delegation said that “partition would place power in the hands of those responsible for the pogroms”. The issue which faced the two sides in that second half of 1921 was the status, and size, of this new Ireland. Clearly something more than the old Home […]

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#OTD in 1969 – The British Army was deployed on the streets in the north of Ireland, which marked the beginning of ‘Operation Banner’.

14/08/2022.Reading time 7 minutes.

Following on from the Peoples Democracy march of 1st January 1969 from Belfast to Derry and the subsequent rioting in the Bogside and other towns in the north of Ireland, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and its supporters were openly condemned by the Government of Northern Ireland as being manipulated by communists, republicans and […]

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#OTD in 1921 – Belfast’s Bloody Sunday.

10/07/2022.Reading time 12 minutes.

Bloody Sunday or Belfast’s Bloody Sunday was a day of violence in Belfast on 10 July 1921, during the Irish War of Independence. In retaliation for an IRA ambush of a police raiding party, Protestant loyalists attacked Catholic enclaves, burning homes and businesses. This sparked gun battles between republican and loyalist paramilitaries, and street fighting […]

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#OTD in 1998 – Drumcree Conflict | The annual Orange Order march was prevented from marching through the nationalist Garvaghy area of Portadown, Co Armagh.

05/07/2022.Reading time 7 minutes.

Security forces and about 10,000 loyalists began a standoff at Drumcree church. During this time, loyalists launched 550 attacks on the security forces and numerous attacks on Catholic civilians. On 12 July, three children were burnt to death in a loyalist petrol bomb attack. This incident brought an end to the standoff. The Drumcree conflict or Drumcree […]

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#OTD in 1970 – The Battle for St. Matthew’s, Belfast.

27/06/2022.Reading time 12 minutes.

When the people of Ireland and in particular the people of the Ballymacarrett-Short Strand woke up on the morning of the 28th June 1970, they woke up to a different Ireland, to a very different northern state and to a very different nationalist community in particular. The reason for this difference happened, literally overnight, indeed […]

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#OTD in 1973 – The people in the north of Ireland vote overwhelmingly to remain within the United Kingdom.

09/03/2022.Reading time 2 minutes.

The abolition of the Northern Ireland Parliament in 1972 raised the question of whether or not a new Assembly should have the power to determine which state Northern Ireland should belong to. The British government decided to put this question directly to the people every ten years by referendum, and the first (and so far […]

Read More

#OTD in 1989 – Belfast solicitor, Patrick Finucane is murdered by Unionist assassins.

12/02/2022.Reading time 3 minutes.

Pat Finucane, who acted as solicitor for republican hunger striker, Bobby Sands, was shot dead at his north Belfast home in front of his wife and children. The De Silva report into the brutal murder of Pat Finucane, coupled with the prime minister’s searing confession to parliament, revealed probably the worst atrocity by the British […]

Read More

#OTD in 1921 – De Valera received nationalist delegations from counties Down, Derry, Antrim and the city of Belfast who expressed anxiety at partition.

11/09/2021.Reading time 4 minutes.

Referring to the unionists, one Protestant member of the Belfast delegation said that “partition would place power in the hands of those responsible for the pogroms”. The issue which faced the two sides in that second half of 1921 was the status, and size, of this new Ireland. Clearly something more than the old Home […]

Read More