Political Murals, Belfast 2010

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Belfast-Political-Murals007.jpg

This is part of a mural honoring the &quot;Gibraltar 3,&quot; members of the IRA killed by British commandos there in 1988.  The IRA frequently staged &quot;military&quot; style funerals in which masked gunmen would appear and fire shots over the graves. ..The Security Forces almost always tried to apprehend or otherwise disrupt such actions by the IRA, leading to ugly and sometimes violent scenes at such funerals...What is somewhat ironic is that in the case of the Gibraltar 3, the IRA volunteers did not get a firing party, because the Provos and the Security Forces negotiated a deal that there would be a minimal security presence at the funerals (held jointly at Milltown Cemetery) if the IRA refrained from staging a military funeral.  Unfortunately, a somewhat deranged Loyalist gunman took advantage of this deal in an attempt to murder the Republican leaders gathered by the graveside.  He failed in this but killed three mourners (including one IRA man).