One study focusing in part on female members of the UVF and Red Hand Commando noted that it "seem[ed] to have been reasonably unusual" for women to be officially asked to join the UVF. Their weapons stock-piles are to be retained under the watch of the UVF leadership. ", "UVF orders removal of Catholic families from Carrickfergus housing estate in '21st century form of ethnic cleansing'. Prior to this the atmosphere at the Rex had been jovial, with the UVF spectators even joining in to sing UDA songs along to the tunes of the UDA-aligned flute bands which accompanied the approximately ten thousand UDA men on their parade up the Shankill Road. [167], There were also 66 UVF/RHC members and four former members killed in the conflict.[169]. [23], However, with Tyrie confirmed in overall control of the UDA, Harding Smith initially remained silent until, in 1974, he declared that the West Belfast brigade of the movement was splitting from the mainstream UDA on the pretext of a visit to Libya organised by Tyrie in a failed attempt to procure arms from Colonel Qadaffi. Thirty-three people were killed and almost 300 injured. Play over 320 million tracks for free on SoundCloud. [35] Bunting's opponents criticised his alleged heavy-handed approach, particularly towards Tiger's Bay residents, whilst his supporters claimed that Bunting's attempts to tackle the drugs trade in the area were the real reason behind the attempts to remove him. The South East Antrim Ulster Defence Association is a standalone faction of the UDA and was once part of its inner council. The UVF struck back on Monday morning, shooting dead two Adair associates, Jackie Coulter and Bobby Mahood, as they sat in a Range Rover on the Crumlin Road. The report added that individuals, some current and some former members, in the group have, without the orders from above, continued to "localised recruitment", and although some continued to try and acquire weapons, including a senior member, most forms of crime had fallen, including shootings and assaults. Loyalists were successful in importing arms into Northern Ireland. [24] Harding Smith survived two separate shootings but crucially lost the support of other leading Shankill Road UDA figures and eventually left Belfast after being visited by North Belfast Brigadier Davy Payne, who warned him that he would not survive a third attack. Adair's former ally Mo Courtney, who had returned to the mainstream UDA immediately before the attack, was appointed the new West Belfast brigadier, ending the feud. This move came as the organisation held high-level discussions about its future. The "dissident" South East Antrim UDA is having its drug-dealing empire dismantled by the Paramilitary Crime Task Force,. [89] Eleven months later, a man was arrested and charged with the attempted murder of the UVF's alleged second-in-command Harry Stockman, described by the Belfast Telegraph as a "senior Loyalist figure". Provo, UT 84604. [47] John Boreland was shot dead soon after this. The Ulster Volunteer Force murdered more than 500 people during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. An hour later Adair's unit burned down the PUP's offices close to Agnes Street, the de facto border between the UVF-dominated Middle and Upper Shankill and the UDA-dominated Lower Shankill. [30], On 27 May, Spence sent four UVF members to kill IRA volunteer Leo Martin, who lived in Belfast. Although the UDA and UVF have frequently co-operated and generally co-existed, the two groups have clashed. Along with the UDA, it helped to enforce the strike by blocking roads, intimidating workers, and shutting any businesses that opened. [26] Spence later wrote "At the time, the attitude was that if you couldn't get an IRA man you should shoot a Taig, he's your last resort". [136][137] This activity has been described as its preferred source of funds in the early 1970s,[138] and it continued into the 2000s, with the UVF in County Londonderry being active. [45] These were all subordinate to the Brigade Staff. According to the report they agreed that West Belfast Brigade members loyal to the wider UDA should establish a new command structure for the brigade which would then take the lead in ousting Mo Courtney, Jim Spence and Eric McKee from their existing leadership positions. Briefings, obtained by BBC NI's Spotlight programme, cover all the paramilitary groups and are based on PSNI and MI5 intelligence. Austin Peay State University. From that time until the early 1990s the Mid-Ulster Brigade was led by Robin "the Jackal" Jackson, who then passed the leadership to Billy Wright. [1] Contents 1 Early life 2 Ulster Defence Association 3 Assassination attempt on Gerry Adams 4 Brigadier Find out the latest on your favorite NCAAF teams on CBSSports.com. [90][91], On 2526 October 2010, the UVF was involved in rioting and disturbances in the Rathcoole area of Newtownabbey with UVF gunmen seen on the streets at the time. The following March they were sentenced to a total of 700 years . [98] Much of the UVF's orchestration was carried out by its senior members in East Belfast, where many attacks on the PSNI and on residents of the Short Strand enclave took place. The largest loyalist paramilitary groups throughout the Troubles were the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and they remain the largest active groups. [40] Along with another associate they were charged with attempting to murder Borland and Andre Shoukri and were remanded in custody. The resulting activity led to the deaths of at least four people, all associated with the LVF. page 1. The murder of Peter Ward, the third victim, brought the UVF and its then leader Gusty Spence to public attention. 'Impossible to get out' of paramilitaries, Loyalists on 1969: 'Better to die on your feet', Russia launches pre-dawn missile attack on Ukraine, Chaos at port as thousands rush to leave Sudan. In October 1975, the UVF was undermined when soldiers and police swooped on houses in Belfast and East Antrim and arrested 26 men. This development came soon after the UVF's Brigade Staff in Belfast had stood down Wright and the Portadown unit of the Mid-Ulster Brigade, on 2 August 1996, for the killing of a Catholic taxi driver near Lurgan during Drumcree disturbances. [7], The UDA retaliated in East Belfast by attempting to kill UVF leader Ken Gibson, who in turn ordered the UDA's headquarters in the east of the city to be blown up, although this attack also failed. The group had been proscribed in July 1966, but this ban was lifted on 4 April 1974 by Merlyn Rees, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in an effort to bring the UVF into the democratic process. The UVF has ordered the removal of Catholic families from a housing estate in Carrickfergus in what has been termed a "form of 21st century ethnic cleansing". [76], On 14 September 2005, following serious loyalist rioting during which dozens of shots were fired at riot police and the British Army the Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain announced that the British government no longer recognised the UVF ceasefire. [99] The high levels of orchestration by the leadership of the East Belfast UVF, and the alleged ignored orders from the main leaders of the UVF to stop the violence has led to fears that the East Belfast UVF has now become a separate loyalist paramilitary grouping which doesn't abide by the UVF ceasefire or the Northern Ireland Peace Process. [51], On 29 May 2017 the South East Antrim UDA murdered an ex member and friend of George Gilmore. [1] The bad blood originated from an incident in the Ulster Workers' Council strike of May 1974 when the two groups were co-operating in support of the Ulster Workers' Council. [51][52] Gilmore died the following day, with the incident described as part of an ongoing feud in the town. Oct 28 // football. Thu 6 Oct 2022 at 23:00 The South-East Antrim UDA has carried out seven brutal murders in Carrickfergus since 1995, but no one has ever been convicted in connection with them. Adair's time as leader came to an end on 6 February 2003 when south Belfast brigadier Jackie McDonald led a force of around 100 men onto the Shankill to oust Adair, who promptly fled to England. [31], On 26 June, the group shot dead a Catholic civilian and wounded two others as they left a pub on Malvern Street, Belfast. [31], The other five brigadiers in the UDA leadership decided to expel Andre Shoukri, his brother Ihab, and another associate in June 2006. [50], In 1974, hardliners staged a coup and took over the Brigade Staff. Tensions had been further stoked by a graffiti campaign against Bunting's leadership on the York Road, in which expelled members of the North Belfast Brigade, who had come under the wing of their counterparts in the west, called for Bunting's removal as brigadier. The Ulster Defence Association, formed in 1971, had tens of thousands of members at its peak. [120] They always signed their statements with the fictitious name "Captain William Johnston". He had been a prominent UVF member and was thought to have ordered or participated in about 20 killings. [54] Gilmore had been targeted in an unsuccessful crossbow attack the previous August. [60] The decommissioning was completed five weeks before a government amnesty deadline beyond which any weapons found could have been used as evidence for a prosecution. He had been expelled by the UDA in 2002 and later left NI following a loyalist feud, after his Shankill Road power base crumbled. During the riot, UVF members shot dead RUC officer Victor Arbuckle. [22] The main problems were between East Belfast chief Tommy Herron and Charles Harding Smith, his rival in the west of the city, over who controlled the movement. Both men were placed under death sentences. The South-east Antrim brigadier, who was not named in reports, stated that any brigade members attending Gilmore's funeral would be expelled. C Company then went on the rampage in the Lower Shankill, attacking the houses of known UVF members and their families, including the home of veteran UVF leader Gusty Spence, and evicting the inhabitants at gunpoint as they wrecked and stole property and set fire to homes. [41] As is standard within the UDA whilst in custody Bunting had to relinquish his role as brigadier although his replacement, a close friend of McDonald's from Taughmonagh in south Belfast identified only as the "Burger King Brigadier" due to his weight, has been reported as merely a figurehead with no actual power. Spence was later convicted of the murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The first Independent Monitoring Commission report in April 2004 described the UVF/RHC as "relatively small" with "a few hundred" active members "based mainly in the Belfast and immediately adjacent areas". "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths crosstabulations", "UVF disbands unit linked to taxi murder", Law and order Belfast-style as two men are forced on a 'walk of shame', 'Report of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning', Twenty-Fourth Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission, "David Madine admits trying to kill loyalist Harry Stockman", "Police say UVF gunman seen in Rathcoole during trouble". Although O'Neill was a unionist, they saw him as being too 'soft' on the civil rights movement and too friendly with the Republic of Ireland. [135], Prior to and after the onset of the Troubles the UVF carried out armed robberies. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? The men were tried, and in March 1977 were sentenced to an average of twenty-five years each.[56][57]. [46] In August 2016 the new leader was reported as having fled to Scotland due to the threat of the Mount Vernon UVF. In Newtownabbey and nearby Carrickfergus, the motivation is criminal. [69] Republicans responded to the attacks by assassinating senior UVF members John Bingham, William "Frenchie" Marchant and Trevor King[70] as well as Leslie Dallas, whose purported UVF membership was disputed both by his family and the UVF. "They are holding local communities to ransom. [85], In the twentieth IMC report, the group was said to be continuing to put its weapons "beyond reach", (in the group's own words) to downsize, and reduce the criminality of the group. [80] This was to take effect from midnight. A former high-profile leader of the UFF is Johnny Adair, who was released from prison in 2005 after serving two thirds of a 16-year sentence for directing terrorism on behalf of the organisation. 2023 season schedule, scores, stats, and highlights. The Shoukri brothers are a pair of Northern Irish loyalist paramilitaries. [8] The group also continue to carry out racist and sectarian attacks against blacks and Eastern Europeans in Northern Ireland with ACC Will Kerr of the Northern Irish Police Service stating the group had contributed to a 70% rise in hate crime and is quoted as stating "It has a deeply unpleasant taste of a bit of ethnic cleansing. With a few exceptions, such as Mid-Ulster brigadier Billy Hanna (a native of Lurgan), the Brigade Staff members have been from the Shankill Road or the neighbouring Woodvale area to the west. "Overstating and Misjudging the Prospects of Civil War: The Ulster Volunteer Force and the Irish Volunteers in the Home Rule Crisis, 19121914." Eventually a ceasefire was reluctantly agreed upon by the majority of those involved in the feuding after new procedures were established with the aim of preventing the escalation of any future problems between the two organisations, and after consideration was paid to the advice of Gary McMichael and David Ervine, the then leaders of the two political wings of loyalism.[15]. [65], In the 1980s, the UVF was greatly reduced by a series of police informers. The Sunday World's offices were also firebombed. The South East Antrim UVF is being linked to a 100,000 cash and drugs haul seized in Carrickfergus. Two UVF members, Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville, were accidentally killed by their own bomb while carrying out this attack. "FIFTH REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT MONITORING COMMISSION", Select Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs - Part One: The continuing threat from paramilitary organisations, "Inside story: Why the IRA never attacked Scotland", "Revealed: how Scots loyalists sent gelignite to paramilitaries. In 1971, these ramped up their activity against the British Army and RUC. [46] On 17 May, two UVF units from the Belfast and Mid-Ulster brigades detonated four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan. It is believed about 7,500 members are in the UVF and 5,000 in the UDA . Scores of houses and businesses were burnt out, most of them owned by Catholics. Fire engulfed the house next door, badly burning the elderly Protestant widow who lived there. However, the year leading up to the loyalist ceasefire, which took place shortly after the Provisional IRA ceasefire, saw some of the worst sectarian killings carried out by loyalists during the Troubles. The SUU Thunderbirds schedule includes opponents, date, time, and TV. According to the media, the UVF did hand over a significant haul, including half a tonne of explosives, detonators, rocket-propelled grenades, heavy and light machineguns, handguns and shotguns, more than 300 pipe bombs, and thousands of . Spence told Radio Ulster that the UVF had been "engaged in murder, attempted murder of civilians, attempted murder of police officers. [156][157] Between 1979 and 1986, Canadian supporters supplied the UVF/UDA with 100 machine guns and thousands of rifles, grenade launchers, magnum revolvers, and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition. The first British soldier to be killed by the Provisional IRA died in February 1971. "[145], Protestants in Canada also supported the loyalist paramilitaries in the conflict. The UVF was formed with the express intention of executing known IRA men. [134] Another estimates that over a 30-year period women accounted for, at most, just 2% of UVF membership. There were four murders; the first victim being a nephew of a leading loyalist opposed to Adair, Jonathon Stewart, killed at a party on 26 December 2002. It killed hundreds of people during the Troubles in Northern Ireland and often claimed responsibility for sectarian murders using the cover name the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF). The last victims were John 'Grug' Gregg (noted for a failed attempt on the life of Gerry Adams) and Robert Carson, another Loyalist. Some of them left much of Belfast without power and water. It is believed about 7,500 members are in the UVF and 5,000 in the UDA, The assessment says the IRA "still has access to weapons", The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. In February, it began to target critics of militant loyalism the homes of MPs Austin Currie, Sheelagh Murnaghan, Richard Ferguson and Anne Dickson were attacked with improvised bombs. [26] The 'Paisleyites' set out to stymie the civil rights movement and oust Terence O'Neill, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. [26] The group called itself the "Ulster Volunteer Force" (UVF), after the Ulster Volunteers of the early 20th century, although in the words of a member of the previous organisation "the present para-military organisation has no connection with the U.V.F. But vicious fighting ensued, with a roughly three hundred-strong C Company (the name given to the Lower Shankill unit of the UDA's West Belfast Brigade, which contained Adair's most loyal men) mob attacking the patrons of the Rex, initially with hand weapons such as bats and iron bars, before they shot up the bar as its patrons barricaded themselves inside. [106], In April 2021, riots erupted across Loyalist communities in Northern Ireland.[relevant? [63][64][110] Graham has held the position since he assumed office in 1976. [51] The South-east Antrim brigadier, who was not named in reports, stated that any brigade members attending Gilmore's funeral would be expelled. A loyalist feud refers to any of the sporadic feuds which have erupted almost routinely between Northern Ireland's various loyalist paramilitary groups during and after the ethno-political conflict known as the Troubles broke out in 1969. Southeastern Utah is anchored by Arches and Canyonlands national parks, and the active tourism basecamps of Moab and Green River.. Further south, travelers can explore the vast stretch of land known as Bears Ears county, which includes active and ancient Native American communities and historic sites, such as Monument Valley and Hovenweep. The arms are thought to have consisted of: The UVF used this new infusion of arms to escalate their campaign of sectarian assassinations. Both pubs were wrecked and a number of people were wounded. [100][101], In October 2013, the policing board announced that the UVF was still heavily involved in gangsterism despite its ceasefire. "There can be no naivety around that," he said. The leaked threat assessment says the Provisional IRA still exists; there are now a dozen paramilitary groups - more than during the Troubles - and seven of these groups are dissident republican. [58] These men had overthrown the "hawkish" officers, who had called for a "big push", which meant an increase in violent attacks, earlier in the same month. The UVF stated that the attempted attack was a protest against the Irish Army units "still massed on the border in County Donegal". "BBC News Man held over East Belfast police murder bid", "Surge in Belfast violence blamed on resurgent UVF", "The Beast from East Belfast could put an end to flags violence right now but he won't", "East Belfast UVF: Mission Accomplished? However, the UVF saw fit to continue the battle in 2001, using its satellite group the Red Hand Commando to kill two of the LVF's leading figures, Adrian Porter and Stephen Warnock. The new assessment says this is still the position and the IRA is in a much-reduced form and not recruiting or training. Luther's last name has fallen off the wall above the main board in Waveney/Doury Road - the installation is about a decade old and replaced a South East Antrim UDA emblem (see Keresapa). [6] The UDA initially believed the IRA were responsible and intended to kidnap twenty Catholics in retaliation. [37] In August 2014 as Bunting drove along Duncairn Gardens, a street separating Tiger's Bay from the republican New Lodge area his car was damaged by a pipe bomb thrown at it. In 2018, the then PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton said members of the UDA and UVF were still involved in organised crime. Craig was killed, Tommy Lyttle was declared persona non grata and various brigadiers were removed from office, with the likes of Jackie McDonald, Joe English and Jim Gray taking their places. Adair waited until the bulk of the parade of UDA men had made its way up into the heart of the Shankill before initiating the provocative gesture. "For the. Loyalist paramilitary groups have their origins in Northern Ireland's Troubles, The UDA killed hundreds of people during the Troubles in Northern Ireland and often claimed responsibility for sectarian murders using the cover name the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), The UVF was involved in many atrocities during the Troubles, Billy Wright was the founder of the LVF and was shot dead in the Maze prison in 1997, Between 1966 and 1999 the UVF and the Red Hand Commando killed more than 500 people, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure.
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