BELFAST - An important step intoning down the violent image of Belfast's Shankill Road is to be taken this week with the announcement of an agreement on the removal of some of its most ferocious murals.
Ten of the district's most militant wall paintings are to be replacedas part of a project to replace portrayals of militarism with more pacific material relating to the area's cultural and industrial heritage.
The Shankill and other centres of paramilitarism have long been decorated with large paintings which often depict gunmen and other threatening images. During the Troubles, this warlike wall art became particularly associated with Northern Ireland, as both republicans and loyalists employed it to express defiance and territorial dominance.
The irony is that although many of the murals are designed to be off-putting and even threatening, they have, in recent years, helped attract large numbers of tourists to Belfast.
In summer, tourists regularly pause to be photographed there.
But the authorities have been grappling for years with the question of how to get rid of such unwelcome reminders of violence.
The latest move, led by the city council, follows months of consultations involving community groups, residents, artists and politicians.
More consultations, including a public meeting, will follow to identify themes for replacement murals.
A pilot scheme launched in Protestant east Belfast several years ago has proved successful. Although some images of gunmen remain, other murals depicting the Troubles have been replaced by paintings with local links, including the Titanic, George Best and C.S. Lewis.
Jim Wilson, a well-known east Belfast resident, explained: "The three main paramilitary groups agreed it would be a good idea to start changing a few of the particularly aggressive murals to lower tensions.
"All the old murals won't come down - there's going to be part of our history that will still be there. That legacy is not going to be whitewashed."
