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Writing No Longer On The Wall
A wall on the Shankill Road which used to display a large UDA slogan has been painted over with more colourful "graffiti art" entitled Hidden Treasures. The imagery celebrates "the best bits of past and present Belfast life." Shankill community worker William Smith told the BBC that this was important in order to change young people's attitudes, because they were being conditioned day and daily by paramilitary murals.
Last month the UFF mural of a soldier with a skull for a head was painted over with a tribute to James Magennis to mark the 60th anniversary of VE Day. James Magennis was the only Northern Irish man awarded the Victoria Cross (the highest British decoration) during World War 2. As a Catholic from the Falls Road however, he got a lukewarm reception at best on his return, with Belfast Corporation refusing to give him the freedom of the city.
Paramilitary murals are eyesores and blights on communities and Mr Smith may have a point about them conditioning Northern Ireland's youngsters into accepting paramilitaries as a "normal" part of life. Repainting them all may be a slow process, but long may it continue.