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Notorious UDA mural to be changed UDA says 'OK' to King William
(about 3 hours later)
One of Northern Ireland's most infamous paramilitary murals is be replaced. A notorious wall mural in Belfast - showing a loyalist paramilitary - is to be replaced by a portrait of King William of Orange.
The UDA portrait of the grim reaper in the loyalist Village area of south Belfast will be replaced by King William of Orange. The mural is nicknamed "The Grim Reaper".
The painting work will begin on Monday as part of a £3m community "re-imaging" scheme. It was painted 10 years ago on a gable wall in Tavanagh Street in the mainly Protestant Village area of the city.
The decision to take down the divisive image comes after almost a decade of negotiations within the community. Its £18,000 replacement is part of a £3m community "reimaging" scheme.
The new painting of 'King Billy', the Dutch king who defeated Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, will be hung as a canvas over the repainted wall. Negotiations on the repainting began five years ago with the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA).
The project is part of the Greater Village Regeneration Trust's Streetscape project, which has received around £18,000 support from the Northern Ireland Arts Council. Paula Bradshaw, director of the Greater Village Regeneration Trust, said: "We kept being told 'No' but over the past twelve months confidence and trust has been built up.
Director of the GVRT Paula Bradshaw said that the paramilitaries agreed to the repainting "with the proviso that they decided what would be the replacement, so we went along with their wishes". "When we got that money from the Arts Council we were afforded the opportunity to go to them and they said 'yes', thankfully."
The DUP MLA for the area Jimmy Spratt said: "It shows that the whole community within the village area is moving forward". She said the UDA had decided that the mural should be replaced by the King William portrait.
"But it was a process we had to take as a community to move forward," she added.
The new mural has been funded by the Arts Council
The Tavanagh Street scheme is one of 18 new public art projects.
The programme is funded by the Department of Social Development and arranged by the Arts Council.
The Council's Chief Executive, Roisín McDonough, said the Tavanagh Street mural was "divisive and offensive."
She said its replacement was a huge first step in a very positive transformation process.
"The fact that it's being replaced by King William is not an act of triumphalism," she said.
"King William is not offensive to people in this area. It's part of their legitimate Orange cultural heritage.
"The most significant aspect of this is that we are taking down one of the most horrific murals in Northern Ireland."