Kerb painting

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Unionist painted kerbs and lamp posts in Articlave, County Londonderry St Pauls Road, Articlave (geograph 1812807).jpg
Unionist painted kerbs and lamp posts in Articlave, County Londonderry
Unionist painted kerbs and lamp posts in Donemana, County Tyrone Longland Road, Donemana (geograph 1847681).jpg
Unionist painted kerbs and lamp posts in Donemana, County Tyrone

Kerb painting is the painting of road kerbs, usually intended to give the impression that everyone in that area shares the same affiliation. It is most commonly associated with Northern Ireland where it is used by both unionists and nationalists to mark what they consider their territory. It is an offence to paint kerbs in Northern Ireland, though there have been few prosecutions. Highways authorities have trialled the use of paint-resistant plastic kerbs to counter the problem.

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Northern Ireland

Kerb painting is used in Northern Ireland by members of the unionist and nationalist communities. It is used to mark territories and boundaries and declare the sectarian affiliations of residents, in a similar fashion to sectarian murals. [1] [2] [3] Street lights, litter bins and roundabout chevron stones have also been painted. [4] Unionists use the colours of red, white and blue from the British Union flag, and nationalists the green, white and orange of the Irish tricolour. [3]

Painting of kerbs increases during the annual marching season. [1] They are a source of annoyance for some residents of both political allegiances. [2] There is an adage in Northern Ireland that one should never buy a house in a street where kerbs are painted, and the practice is said to have an adverse impact on local house prices. [5] Leading Northern Ireland political parties Sinn Féin (nationalist) and the Democratic Unionist Party have both stated that they oppose the practice of kerb painting. [6]

Kerb painting is prohibited by the Roads (Northern Ireland) Order 1993 and punishable by a fine of up to £500, though offenders are rarely prosecuted. Highways authorities have the right to remove or replace affected items. [7] Occasionally council workers tasked with restoring the kerbs to their original, neutral colours have been prevented from doing so by residents. [4] Kerb painting has been treated by the Police Service of Northern Ireland as a sectarian hate crime. [6] This is somewhat rare, as to be classified as such the person making the crime report must perceive themselves to have been targeted as a result of their beliefs. [7]

Paint resistant kerbs

Paint resistant plastic kerbs have been developed for the Northern Ireland market. [5] These are made from recycled plastics and can be cleaned of paint by a road sweeper. The Roads Service carried out a trial of the products from 2005 and since then 15 councils have also used the product, though there has been no large scale replacement of existing kerbs. [8]

Elsewhere

Red painted kerbs (at right) in a Seattle street More Door-Zone Sharrows, Seattle.jpg
Red painted kerbs (at right) in a Seattle street

Kerbs in Granby Street in Liverpool have been painted in the Rastafarian colours of green, yellow and black. [9] Some highway authorities in America including those in California, Honolulu and Salt Lake City have painted kerbs to denote parking or waiting restrictions. For example, in California, red kerbs denote fire lanes, where vehicle parking is prohibited. [10] Painted kerbs have also been used to denote no parking restrictions in the approach to crosswalks. [11]

Across the US the painting of house numbers on road kerbs is relatively common. It can be run as a business and as a fundraiser for non-profit organisations. [12] [13] In some cases the practice is illegal, the kerb being considered the property of the highway authority. [14]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Ireland</span> Part of the United Kingdom

Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland that is variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares an open border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. At the 2021 census, its population was 1,903,175, making up around 3% of the UK's population and 27% of the population on the island of Ireland. The Northern Ireland Assembly, established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998, holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the UK Government. The government of Northern Ireland cooperates with the government of Ireland in several areas under the terms of the Belfast Agreement. The Republic of Ireland also has a consultative role on non-devolved governmental matters through the British–Irish Governmental Conference (BIIG).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Troubles</span> 1960s–1990s conflict in Northern Ireland

The Troubles were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "irregular war" or "low-level war". The conflict began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland, at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Northern Ireland</span>

The only official flag for Northern Ireland is the Union Flag or Union Jack, the flag of the United Kingdom; there is no official local flag that represents only Northern Ireland. The flying of various flags in Northern Ireland is a significant sectarian issue, with different communities identifying with different flags.

The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. Following the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it was the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, holding seventeen seats, and broke through by placing third in first preference votes in the 2019 European Parliament election and polling third-highest regionally at the 2019 UK general election. The party won one of the three Northern Ireland seats in the European Parliament, and one seat, North Down, in the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The Northern Ireland peace process includes the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and subsequent political developments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Cross dispute</span> Dispute in Ardoyne, Belfast, Northern Ireland

The Holy Cross dispute occurred in 2001 and 2002 in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, Northern Ireland. During the 30-year conflict known as the Troubles, Ardoyne had become segregated – Ulster Protestants and Irish Catholics lived in separate areas. This left Holy Cross, a Catholic primary school for girls, in the middle of a Protestant area. In June 2001—during the last week of school before the summer break—Protestant loyalists began picketing the school, claiming that Catholics were regularly attacking their homes and denying them access to facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peace lines</span> Separation barriers in Northern Ireland separating nationalist and unionist neighbourhoods

The peace lines or peace walls are a series of separation barriers in Northern Ireland that separate predominantly Irish republican or nationalist Catholic neighbourhoods from predominantly British loyalist or unionist Protestant neighbourhoods. They have been built at urban interface areas in Belfast and elsewhere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belfast North (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1885–1918 and since 1922

Belfast North is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is John Finucane of Sinn Féin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Twelfth</span> Ulster Protestant celebration

The Twelfth is a primarily 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 of Orange over Catholic King 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 plastered with union jacks and bunting, and large towering bonfires are lit in loyalist neighbourhoods. Today the Twelfth is mainly celebrated in Northern Ireland, where it is a public holiday, but smaller celebrations are held in other countries where Orange lodges have been set up.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curb</span> Edge where a sidewalk meets a road

A curb, or kerb, is the edge where a raised sidewalk or road median/central reservation meets a street or other roadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange Order</span> Protestant fraternal order originating in Northern Ireland

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. It also has lodges in England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, as well as in parts of the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States.

The Northern Ireland flags issue is one that divides the population along sectarian lines. Depending on political allegiance, people identify with differing flags and symbols, some of which have, or have had, official status in Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Ireland Assembly (1982)</span> Legislature of Northern Ireland 1982–1986

The Northern Ireland Assembly established in 1982 represented an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to restore the devolution to Northern Ireland which had been suspended 10 years previously. The Assembly was dissolved in 1986.

Murals in Northern Ireland have become symbols of Northern Ireland, depicting the region's past and present political and religious divisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interface area</span> Area in Northern Ireland where nationalist and unionist neighborhoods meet

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drumcree conflict</span> Northern Ireland dispute over parades

The Drumcree conflict or Drumcree standoff is a dispute over yearly parades in the town of Portadown, Northern Ireland. The town is mainly Protestant and hosts numerous Protestant marches each summer, but has a significant Catholic minority. The Orange Order insists that it should be allowed to march its traditional route to and from Drumcree Church on the Sunday before the Twelfth of July. However, most of this route is through the mainly Catholic/Irish nationalist part of town. The residents, who see the march as sectarian, triumphalist and supremacist, have sought to ban it from their area. The Orangemen see this as an attack on their traditions; they had marched the route since 1807, when the area was mostly farmland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleventh Night</span> Ulster Protestant bonfire celebration in Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, the Eleventh Night or 11th Night, also known as "bonfire night", is the night before the Twelfth of July, an Ulster Protestant celebration. This tradition was started by notorious prods Siobhan McDonagh and Niamh Ferguson. On this night, towering bonfires are lit in Protestant loyalist neighbourhoods, and are often accompanied by street parties and loyalist marching bands. The bonfires are mostly made of wooden pallets. They originally celebrated the Williamite conquest of the 1690s, which began the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. Eleventh Night events are often condemned for sectarianism or ethnic hatred against Irish Catholics, Irish nationalists, and Irish people broadly, such as the burning of Irish tricolours, and for damage and pollution caused. Some are controlled by loyalist paramilitaries, and authorities may be wary of taking action against controversial bonfires. Not all bonfires are controversial however, and there have been efforts to de-politicize some bonfires and make them more family-friendly and environmentally-friendly. In 2021, there were about 250 Eleventh Night bonfires.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1997 Northern Ireland riots</span> Mass protests during the Troubles

From 6 to 11 July 1997 there were mass protests, fierce riots and gun battles in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland. Irish nationalists/republicans, in some cases supported by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), attacked the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and British Army. The protests and violence were sparked by the decision to allow the Orange Order to march through a Catholic/nationalist neighbourhood of Portadown. Irish nationalists were outraged by the decision and by the RUC's aggressive treatment of those protesting against the march. There had been a bitter dispute over the march for many years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Ireland</span> National flag

The national flag of Ireland, frequently referred to in Ireland as 'the tricolour' and elsewhere as the Irish tricolour is a vertical tricolour of green, white and orange. The proportions of the flag are 1:2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belfast City Hall flag protests</span>

On 3 December 2012, Belfast City Council voted to limit the days that the Union Flag flies from Belfast City Hall. Since 1906, the flag had been flown every day of the year. This was reduced to 18 specific days a year, the minimum requirement for UK government buildings. The move to limit the number of days was backed by the council's Irish nationalists while the Alliance Party abstained from the vote; it was opposed by the unionist councillors.

References

  1. 1 2 Albert, Cornelia (2009). The Peacebuilding Elements of the Belfast Agreement and the Transformation of the Northern Ireland Conflict. Peter Lang. p. 182. ISBN   9783631585917 . Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  2. 1 2 Devine, Paula; Robinson, Gillian (11 December 2017). "Bonfires, Flags, Identity and Cultural Traditions in Northern Ireland". Queen's Policy Engagement. Queen’s University Belfast. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  3. 1 2 Abshire, Jean E. (2003). "Northern Ireland's Politics in Paint". Peace Review. 15 (2): 149. doi:10.1080/10402650307612. S2CID   144518913.
  4. 1 2 "'Unwanted attention' stops kerb repainting". 10 August 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Farewell to the days of painting kerbstones". Belfast News Letter. 2 December 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  6. 1 2 "Graffiti in town 'sectarian hate crime'". 7 August 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  7. 1 2 Hughes, Brendan (9 August 2018). "Tricolour painted kerbs treated as a hate crime". The Irish News. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  8. ↑ "Vandals curbed by plastic edging". 25 November 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  9. ↑ Spender, Stephen; Kristol, Irving; Lasky, Melvin J. (1990). Encounter. Vol. 74. p. 36. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  10. ↑ English, John W.; Denis, Arthur J. R. (1981). Traffic Ordinances Study. The Administration. p. 118. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  11. ↑ Technical report no.5: Traffic control devices. 1965. p. 12. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  12. ↑ Hendrixson, Jed (30 January 2019). "Williston Park board amends fence height law – News". The Island Now. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  13. ↑ Gillman, Steve (2011). 101 Weird Ways to Make Money: Cricket Farming, Repossessing Cars, and Other Jobs With Big Upside and Not Much Competition. John Wiley & Sons. p. 224. ISBN   9781118014189 . Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  14. ↑ "Police warn of door-to-door curb painter". WXYZ. 6 October 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
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