20110100_jbl_Ireland_318

Murals represent the political views, memorials for those lost in the battle between Catholics and Protestants in the age old battle for Northern Ireland on both the Catholic and Protestant sides of West Belfast and other politically related scenes from Belfast.

Belfast, Northern Ireland. January 2011.//

Black taxis take tourists around predominantly working class West Belfast to see the famous wall murals painted by both the Nationalists who are Catholics in favor of a United Ireland and the Unionists who are Protestants and in favor of northern Ireland remaining a part of Great Britain. A wall runs divides Catholic and Protestant West Belfast much like the Berlin wall once divided East and West Berlin. There are gates in between such as this one which are opened and closed depending on the political climate. Something as simple as a soccer game between a predominantly Catholic city and a predominant Protestant city is reason enough to close the gates. There are murals all along on both sides of the Shankill wall.