Belfast shipyard workers call for UVF to be mobilised

Belfast, 3 September 1920 - Protestant shipyard workers in Belfast have called for the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) to be mobilised to protect the city.

At a meeting of workers from various shipyards, held at Hamilton Road yesterday, resolutions were passed that suggest that an easing of community tensions is unlikely any time soon.

One resolution, stated that the shipyard workers ‘are convinced the time has come when the UVF must now be mobilised and supplied with arms and ammunition in conjunction with the military for the defence of their homes and faith and the restoration of peace and maintenance of law and order in our midst.’

Another resolution called attention to what the workers said was the ‘injustice’ being perpetrated against the ‘loyal inhabitants of this city.’

The workers urged that police be withdrawn from military motors in use in the city and replaced by civilian constables with local knowledge of the various districts.

These civilian constables, it is proposed, would work in conjunction with the military and be ‘fully armed and equipped for the task of preserving order.’

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]