Love Ulster
Love Ulster was a campaign conducted in Northern Ireland in 2005-08 on behalf of unionist victims of the Troubles, organised by the County Armagh Protestant victims' group Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR), led by Willie Frazer.
[edit] History
Love Ulster's first public manifestation was in August 2005, when its members symbolically reenacted the Ulster Volunteer Force's Larne Gun Running of 1914. Love Ulster members brought 200,000 copies of a special edition of the Shankill Mirror newspaper into the port of Larne, bearing the banner headline, "Ulster At Crisis Point" - indicating the perception that Northern Ireland is at "crisis point" and on the verge of being "sold out" into a united Ireland.
On 25 February 2006, a planned Love Ulster march in Dublin was prevented from taking place due to violent protests against the march, in the 2006 Dublin riots. A second Love Ulster parade (in Dublin) was discussed as a possibility for the latter part of 2007[1][2] and approved by an Garda Síochána.[3] However, it was cancelled following discussions between Frazer and the Irish foreign minister Dermot Ahern.[4][5]
In August 2008 FAIR employee William Wilkinson, who had helped to establish Love Ulster[6] and sat as a local councillor in Ballymena for the United Unionist Coalition, was charged with rape and attempted rape. He was convicted in May 2010.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ "Talks over new Love Ulster rally". BBC News. 2007-06-21. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6228332.stm. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
- ^ "Bigger 'Love Ulster' parade planned for Dublin". Rte.ie. 2007-06-21. http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0621/parade.html. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
- ^ "Love Ulster gets go-ahead", Metro, page 4, 2007-07-16
- ^ "Love Ulster dropping Dublin rally". BBC. 2007-10-11. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7040684.stm. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
- ^ "Plans for Love Ulster Parade cancelled". Rte.ie. 2007-08-03. http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0803/loveulster.html. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
- ^ "Ex-DUP councillor on rape charges". Belfasttelegraph.co.uk. 2008-08-25. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/exdup-councillor-on-rape-charges-13948467.html. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
- ^ "Ballymena councillor William Wilkinson guilty of rape". BBC News. 2010-05-27. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/10169173.stm. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
