Today we took a Black Taxi Tour of the city. The driver takes you past the murals and into the neighborhoods and tells you a lot more about the Troubles than the white-washed version we got from the university.
You can see the gates that separate two neighborhoods. They call these areas "interfaces." They are
areas that the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods are right next to each other. The gates are opened in the morning by police to let people go to work and they are closed at night.
They don't want kids to get drunk or high and cross over into the other neighborhood and start
trouble. This is the easiest way to keep them apart. One of these gates is only open 12 hours a day.
This guy was nicknamed "TopGun" because of all the killings he committed for the Loyalists.
The taxi driver called this one "Belfast's Mona Lisa."
If you stand in front of it, he pointing the gun right at you.
If you stand to the right of it, he's still pointing the gun at you,.
And here's the view from the left side. Again, gun is pointing right at you.
As you walk by the mural, the gun follows you. Spooky.
Here is another gate but this one has businesses on both sides. One side the Protestants are
allowed to work and not Catholics, and the other side, vice versa.
The Peace Wall from the back of the cab.
The taxi driver handed us markers and we wrote messages on the wall.
Nancy, Cheryl, Judy and I at the Peace Wall. This wall doesn't signify peace between the
two sides. The Peace Wall is called that to separate both sides so they can't kill each
other and then things are more peaceful. That's what they call peace.
An IRA memorial to those who were killed, civilians and IRA volunteers.
This is to remind all that the Protestants came to the Catholic side
and burned down Catholic houses. Those are actual pictures of the
devastation on the bottom.
You can see the Peace Wall on the left. The metal cages on the back
of the houses are to prevent anything being thrown from the Protestant side of
the wall at Catholic houses and damaging them.
The pictures in the back are IRA members who died.
Doesn't sound like they gave up the fight yet.
Bobby Sands was the first hunger striker to die. There's an MP
after his name because Margaret Thatcher named him a representative
of the community while he was in prison. Unfortunately, he died three days later.
Sinn Fein headquarters. Notice the barricades on the windows.
A few people are protesting the internment of Irish citizens by Britain and
also remembering the hunger strikers in 1981.
Bulletproof glass, reinforced door and a security camera
mounted outside. Unfortunately, there is still a bullet
hole in one of the glass doors.
Protestors. They call this white line protesting because they
stay in the middle of the road on the white line. There will
be a bonfire and a march Friday night.
That's Margaret Thatcher's wanted poster in the upper left of the mural.
This guy is noted for being the first of the blanket prisoners. They refused to
wear prison uniforms so they wrapped themselves in blankets.
Definitely a Republican. RUC - Royal Ulster Constabulary;
PSNI - Police Service of Northern Ireland; MI5- British police forces
He's not a fan of any of them.
And he's painting a new mural.
Just below the Irish flag you can see the beginnings of a very
big bonfire. Very well built. There are people standing on top of it. Also
we heard tonight that Republicans took down a Loyalist mural and put it on
the bonfire. The Loyalist are not happy. The fire will burn Friday night along with the
march that will take place. We are waiting to find out the marching route so we can avoid those
areas tomorrow. The university will tell us where they think it's safe to go. Good to know.
