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Winkie Rea
Winston Churchill Rea (born 1950 or 1951), known as Winkie Rea, is a Northern Irish former loyalist paramilitary commander who was the former leader of the Red Hand Commando (RHC) loyalist paramilitary organisation that was in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Part of a leading loyalist family, he has been active in paramilitarism since the early years of the conflict. Red Hand Commando Rea was born in about 1950 or 1951 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and brought up as a Protestant on the loyalist Shankill Road. Although his full name was Winston Churchill Rea, he was better known by his nickname Winkie. Sometime after the outbreak of the Troubles, his parents emigrated to Australia to get away from the violence.Taylor, p.138 In his youth he often attended the rallies of Ian Paisley.Taylor, p.175 It is not known when he joined the Red Hand Commando, a loyalist paramilitary organisation founded in 1972 by John McKeague and closely affiliated with the larger Ulster Volu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Hand Commando
The Red Hand Commando (RHC) is a small Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland that is closely linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Its aim was to combat Irish republicanism – particularly the Irish Republican Army (IRA) – and to maintain Northern Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom. The Red Hand Commando carried out shootings and bombings, primarily targeting Catholic civilians.''The Milwaukee Journal'', 13 August 1974 As well as allowing other loyalist groupings to claim attacks in their name, the organisation has also allegedly used the cover names "Red Branch Knights" and "Loyalist Retaliation and Defence Group".''Sunday Life'', 7 May 1995 It is named after the Red Hand of Ulster, and is unique among loyalist paramilitaries for its use of an Irish language motto, ''Lamh Dearg Abu'', meaning 'red hand to victory'. Writing in early 1973, Martin Dillon characterized the Red Hand Commando thus: "the composition of this group was highly sele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diplock Court
Diplock courts were criminal courts in Northern Ireland for non-jury trial of specified serious crimes ("scheduled offences"). They were introduced by the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973, used for political and terrorism-related cases during the Troubles, and abolished by the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007. Non-jury trial remains possible in Northern Ireland on a case-by-case certification rather than automatically applying for scheduled offences. Description Technically, the Diplock court was not a specially constituted court, but rather an ordinary criminal court before a single judge. From 1991 the relevant court was the Crown Court;Currently Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 s.4; previously Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1991 s.9(1); Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1996 s.10(1); Terrorism Act 2000 s.74 as enacted and as amended by Constitutional Reform Act 2005 Sch.4 par.288(2) before that it was th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frankie Curry
Frankie Curry ( – 17 March 1999)McDonald & Cusack, p. 284 was a Northern Irish loyalist who was involved with a number of paramilitary groups during his long career. A critic of the Northern Ireland peace process, Curry was killed during a loyalist feud. UVF and RHC A native of Belfast's Shankill Road and a nephew of Gusty Spence, Curry became involved in the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) at an early age, claiming that he had helped conceal guns in the aftermath of the June 1966 murder of Catholic civilian Peter Ward by Spence, Robert Williamson and Hugh McClean in the Malvern Arms bar on the Shankill. Curry's reputation within the UVF soon grew and in 1972 at the age of 17, he was a central figure in the plot to break his uncle Gusty Spence out of the Maze Prison. Curry was driving Spence back to prison after a period of leave when their car was stopped by a UVF patrol and Spence was "abducted". In fact both Curry and Spence were closely involved in planning and executing the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as ''The Daily Telegraph & Courier''. Considered a newspaper of record over ''The Times'' in the UK in the years up to 1997, ''The Telegraph'' generally has a reputation for high-quality journalism, and has been described as being "one of the world's great titles". The paper's motto, "Was, is, and will be", appears in the editorial pages and has featured in every edition of the newspaper since 19 April 1858. The paper had a circulation of 363,183 in December 2018, descending further until it withdrew from newspaper circulation audits in 2019, having declined almost 80%, from 1.4 million in 1980.United Newspapers PLC and Fleet Holdings PLC', Monopolies and Mergers Commission (1985), pp. 5–16. Its si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Good Friday Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in Northern Ireland that had prevailed since the late 1960s. It was a major development in the Northern Ireland peace process of the 1990s. It is made up of the Multi-Party Agreement between most of Northern Ireland's political parties, and the BritishIrish Agreement between the British and Irish governments. Northern Ireland's present devolved system of government is based on the agreement. Issues relating to sovereignty, governance, discrimination, military and paramilitary groups, justice and policing were central to the agreement. It restored self-government to Northern Ireland on the basis of "power sharing" and it included acceptance of the principle of consent, commitment to civil and political rights, cultural parity of esteem, police r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Ireland Forum
The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each Westminster Parliamentary constituency for Northern Ireland, under the D'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation. There was also a "topup" of two seats for the ten parties polling most votes; this ensured that two loyalist parties associated with paramilitary groups were represented. See members of the Northern Ireland Forum for a complete list. Election results The results of the election were: ''All parties shown.'' Note: The Democratic Unionist Party was listed on the ballot paper as "Democratic Unionist Party DUP Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a Northern Irish loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader who served as leader of the Democratic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ulster Volunteer Force (1966)
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaign of almost thirty years during The Troubles. It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007, although some of its members have continued to engage in violence and criminal activities. The group is a proscribed organisation and is on the terrorist organisation list of the United Kingdom. The UVF's declared goals were to combat Irish republicanism – particularly the Irish Republican Army (IRA) – and to maintain Northern Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom. It was responsible for more than 500 deaths. The vast majority (more than two-thirds) (choose "religion summary" + "status" + "organisation") of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often killed at random. During the conflict, its d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Progressive Unionist Party
The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) is a minor unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast, becoming the PUP in 1979. Linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Red Hand Commando (RHC), for a time it described itself as "the only left of centre unionist party" in Northern Ireland, with its main support base in the loyalist working class communities of Belfast. Since the Ulster Democratic Party's dissolution in 2001, the PUP has been the sole party in Northern Ireland representing paramilitary loyalism. Party leaders History The party was founded by Hugh Smyth in the mid-1970s as the "Independent Unionist Group". In 1977, two prominent members of the Northern Ireland Labour Party, David Overend and Jim McDonald, joined. Overend subsequently wrote many of the group's policy documents, incorporating much of the NILP's platform.Aaron Edwards, ''A history of the Northern Irel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online news coverage. The service maintains 50 foreign news bureaus with more than 250 correspondents around the world. Deborah Turness has been the CEO of news and current affairs since September 2022. In 2019, it was reported in an Ofcom report that the BBC spent £136m on news during the period April 2018 to March 2019. BBC News' domestic, global and online news divisions are housed within the largest live newsroom in Europe, in Broadcasting House in central London. Parliamentary coverage is produced and broadcast from studios in London. Through BBC English Regions, the BBC also has regional centres across England and national news c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Combined Loyalist Military Command
The Combined Loyalist Military Command is an umbrella body for loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland set up in the early 1990s, recalling the earlier Ulster Army Council and Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee. Bringing together the leaderships of the Ulster Defence Association, the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Red Hand Commando, the CLMC sought to ensure that the groups would work towards the same goals. The group was made up of a number of 'Liaison Officers' who were senior figures from the paramilitary groups themselves, as well as from the Ulster Democratic Party and the loyalist Progressive Unionist Party. The UDP was made up of representatives from UDA and the PUP was made up of representatives from both the RHC and UVF. 1991 Ceasefire The CLMC first tested the idea of a ceasefire in 1991 when it called a halt to all action from 29 April to 4 July of that year. The only breach of the 10-week ceasefire was the killing by the Ulster Freedom Fighters ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Twelfth
The Twelfth (also called Orangemen's Day) is an Ulster Protestant celebration held on 12 July. It began in the late 18th century in Ulster. It celebrates the Glorious Revolution (1688) and victory of Protestant King William III of England, William of Orange over Roman Catholicism, Catholic King James II of England, James II at the Battle of the Boyne (1690), which ensured a Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. On and around the Twelfth, large parades are held by the Orange Order and Ulster loyalist marching bands, streets are bedecked with British flags and bunting, and Eleventh Night, large towering bonfires are lit in loyalist neighbourhoods. Today the Twelfth is mainly celebrated in Northern Ireland, where it is a Public holidays in the United Kingdom, public holiday, but smaller celebrations are held in other countries where Orange lodges have been set up. Since its beginning, the Twelfth has often been accompanied by violence between Ulster Protestants and Catholics, especi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orange Order
The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots heritage. It also has lodges in England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, as well as in parts of the Commonwealth of Nations, Togo and the United States. The Orange Order was founded by Ulster Protestants in County Armagh in 1795, during a period of Protestant–Catholic sectarian conflict, as a fraternity sworn to maintain the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. It is headed by the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, established in 1798. Its name is a tribute to the Dutch-born Protestant king William of Orange, who defeated Catholic king James II in the Williamite–Jacobite War (16881691). The order is best known for its yearly marches, the biggest of which are held on or around 12 July (The Twelfth), a public holiday in Northern Ireland. The Orange O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
