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The Shankill Defence Association was a
loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...
vigilante group formed in May 1969 for the defence of the loyalist
Shankill Road , former_names = , part_of = B39 , namesake = , type = , owner = , maint = Transport NI , length_km = 2.4 , length_ref = , length_notes = , width = , area = , addresses = , locati ...
area of
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...
,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...
during the communal disturbances that year. The Shankill Defence Association was formed by
John McKeague John Dunlop McKeagueWD Flackes & Sydney Elliott, ''Northern Ireland A Political Directory 1968–1993'', The Blackstaff Press, 1994, p. 222 (1930 – 29 January 1982) was a Northern Irish loyalist and one of the founding members of the paramilit ...
, with the intention of defending the Shankill from Irish Republican rioters at the start of
the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...
in Northern Ireland. William "Plum" Smith was a leading member.Peter Taylor, ''Loyalists'', Bloomsbury, 2000, p. 45 In the 1969 Northern Ireland riots, the SDA was involved in providing what coordination there was of violence on the Protestant side. Although McKeague had been close to
Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a Northern Irish loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and Firs ...
the dissident unionist leader issued a statement when the SDA was formed repudiating any connection between McKeague and the SDA and his own groups the
Ulster Protestant Volunteers The Ulster Protestant Volunteers was a loyalist and Reformed fundamentalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. They were active between 1966 and 1969 and closely linked to the Ulster Constitution Defence Committee (UCDC) and Ulster Volunt ...
and the Ulster Constitution Defence Committee.Steve Bruce, ''Paisley: Religion and Politics in Northern Ireland'', Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 218 In 1971, it merged with similar Ulster Loyalist groups elsewhere to form the
Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of ...
.


References

History of Belfast The Troubles in Belfast Ulster Defence Association Vigilantes {{NorthernIreland-stub