Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Photo Journal

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July 5

I spent my first day in Belfast in a fog. Going five time zones in five hours is rough on the body. I can never sleep on planes. Thank God for the John Leonard and his daughter Laura who met me at the airport and took me to their lovely home in Twinbrook, a Catholic housing development west of Belfast. Twinbrook was home to Bobby Sands, the first hunger striker to die in Maze (which the Catholics call Long Kesh) prison in 1980. His parents still live here. The residents have seen their share of the troubles during the past three decades.

From my bedroom window I can see graffiti scrawled on the sides of red-brick row houses demanding RUC Out! (Royal Ulster Constabulary). Faded election posters supporting Sinn Fein’s candidate, Gerry Adams, hang from lampposts. I wonder if I am the only Protestant ever to stay in this neighborhood.

Although I’m surrounded by people with my coloring, I feel very conspicuous.

The Leonards are a handsome family. The father, John, resembles a young Terry Bradshaw. Laura is wide-eyed and freckled. The sadness in mother Mary Leonard’s eyes is something I have a feeling I am going to see a lot in the next few weeks.

July 8


Garard Mallon, 6, shows the wounds he received in early July while playing in Belfast at the peace wall that separates his Catholic housing estate on Lower Springfield Road from Protestant neighborhood on Shankill Road.

I had my first look at the peace wall that separates the Catholic neighborhood of Lower Springfield Road from the Protestant area on Shankill Road. Children on either side of the wall taunt each other by throwing rocks, paint bombs, even snooker balls over the wall. While walking on Bombay Street in the Lower Springfield, I could see several homes and a young boy who have been scarred by these missiles.

Despite efforts to spruce the walls of corrugated steel and barbed wire with decorative brick, the feeling is overwhelmingly oppressive.

So far the only other American journalist I have met is Herb Swanson, a freelance photographer from Portland, Maine, who is working for the Discovery Channel. I have also befriended Chris and Dave, two photographers from Edinburgh, Scotland. The journalists over here impress me with their hustle. Chris doesn’t even receive a byline for his photos.

July 9th

Tonight after we heard reports of violence in Protestant areas in Belfast due to the standoff in Portadown, we hired a taxi to take us around to the hot spots. It is not safe to drive your own car because there is always the possibility of being carjacked. I asked for a Value Cab since the drivers tend to be Protestant. Understandably, a Catholic cab driver would not want to risk his life going into a tense Protestant neighborhood.

As we drive through the dark streets I notice our driver is sweating despite the cool night. In the dimness I can see the dark figures ahead gathering in the streets. My driver blurts out "I’m Catholic. I have no business being here!" We spin around and head back to the Europa, reputed to be the most bombed hotel in Western Europe.

July 10th


	In the Protestant neighborhood of Sandy Row in Belfast, a Protestant boy builds a frame for a small bonfire in the shadow of a larger bonfire scheduled to be lit at midnight on the eve of the July 12th holiday.

The tension in the air is growing as the holiday weekend approaches. The streets in Belfast’s City Centre are full of people rushing around to complete their shopping. A few merchants are already hammering plywood onto their storefronts to protect them from the holiday weekend violence. By 6 p.m. the streets are empty. Even the famous Crown pub is closed. It is an eerie feeling.

I decide to take a look at the bonfire preparations around the Protestant neighborhood of Shankill Road. Construction on the bonfires begins weeks in advance, when children and teen-agers start dragging plywood, tires and old couches into the back lots. When I start shoot pictures of a large bonfire structure underway, kids begin to appear out of nowhere. They fire questions at me: "Are you American?" "Do you know Michael Smith in America?" "Are you Protestant?" Although I am Protestant, I try to duck this question by telling them no one in America cares about what you are. They seem to accept this, then "Chunk," the largest boy there, starts walking towards me with a frown on his face. "We are going to take your car for a joy ride." I start walking backwards away from him and then turn suddenly and run for my car. I look over my shoulder as I drive away to see them laughing. Chunk’s hand is raised with a dark object in it.

July 12th


Protestant boys mimic an Orange Order parade on the eve of the 12th of July holiday in Sandy Row.

The night before the 12th of July holiday is a big party night. Since the holiday falls on the sabbath this year, the parades are pushed back to the 13th and the bonfires will not be lit till midnight. In Sandy Row, Johnny Cash sings "A Ring of Fire" on a boom box while a group of men hustles to finish building the bonfire, which now stands five stories high. A disco is now underway nearby and just about everyone seems drunk. Small fires are lit on the perimeter so the "wee ones" (small children) can see them before going to bed.

At midnight they decide to have a moment of silence for three brothers who were murdered in their sleep when their home in Ballymoney was set afire by a Protestant paramilitary group. Then they light the bonfire with petrol bombs. It is the same method that was used to burn the brothers’ home down.