Ulster loyalism
In Northern Ireland there is a tradition of loyalist Protestant marching bands, who hold numerous parades each year.
It began as a self-determination movement of Ulster Protestants who did not want to become part of a self-governing Ireland, believing it would be dominated by Catholic Irish nationalists.
Belfast saw "savage and unprecedented" communal violence, mainly between Protestant loyalist and Catholic nationalist civilians.
They held counter-protests, attacked civil rights marches, and put pressure on moderate unionists.
Loyalist militants carried out false flag bombings that were blamed on republicans and civil rights activists.
Their stated goals were to defend Protestant areas, to fight those they saw as "enemies of Ulster" (namely republicans),[5] and thwart any step towards Irish unification.
The Provisional Irish Republican Army waged a paramilitary campaign to force a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland.
[22] During the Troubles there were incidents where British security forces colluded with loyalist paramilitaries,[23] such as the attacks by the Glenanne group.
Signed in 1973, the Sunningdale Agreement sought to end the conflict by establishing power-sharing government between unionists and Irish nationalists, and ensuring greater co-operation with the Republic of Ireland.
[26] It also resulted from loyalist groups being re-armed with weapons smuggled from South Africa, overseen by British Intelligence agent Brian Nelson.
The Protestant Orange Order was blocked from marching its traditional route through the Catholic part of Portadown.
A new UVF splinter group, the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), attacked Catholics[29] over a two-year period before calling a ceasefire.
[31][32] Some UDA and LVF brigades broke the ceasefire and attacked Catholics under the name Red Hand Defenders,[30] but the paramilitary campaigns did not resume.
The 2001 Holy Cross protests drew world-wide condemnation as loyalists were shown hurling abuse and missiles, some explosive, others containing excrement, at very young Catholic schoolchildren and parents.
It seeks to reverse what it sees as political and economic neglect of working-class loyalists since the Good Friday Agreement.
[34] In 2021, it withdrew its support for the Agreement, due to the creation of a trade border between Northern Ireland and Britain as a result of Brexit.
[39][40] However, the vast majority of their victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often killed at random in sectarian attacks.
[43][45] According to then Prime Minister Tony Blair, "The purpose of loyalist terrorism was to retaliate, to dominate or to clear out Catholics.
[45] In January 1994, the UDA drew up a 'doomsday plan', to be implemented should British troops be withdrawn from Northern Ireland.
It called for ethnic cleansing and re-partition, with the goal of making Northern Ireland wholly Protestant.
A telephone poll conducted in March 1993 by the News Letter, a Belfast-based newspaper with a unionist editorial stance, sought the view of the Protestant community on a recent upsurge in loyalist paramilitary violence.
"[60] Over 50 per cent of callers chose "Yes" in response to the question "Do you believe there are any current circumstances in which loyalist paramilitary violence is justified?
"[60] In Northern Ireland there are a number of Protestant fraternities and marching bands who hold yearly parades.
A report published in 2013 estimated there were at least 640 marching bands in Northern Ireland with a total membership of around 30,000, an all-time high.
[65] Category Does not include organisations focused on Unionism which do not mention British nationalism in their official makeup.
Does not include organisations supportive of Unionism or Scottish independence without mentioning nationalism in their official makeup.
Does not include organisations supportive of Unionism or Welsh independence without mentioning nationalism in their official makeup.
