Ulster Protestant Volunteers
The Ulster Protestant Volunteers were a loyalist and fundamentalist Christian paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. They were active between 1966 and 1969 and closely linked to the Ulster Constitution Defence Committee (UCDC), established by Ian Paisley and Noel Doherty in 1966.
The UPV launched a bombing campaign to destabilise the Northern Ireland government, whose reforms they opposed. There were bombings on 30 March, 4 April, 20 April, 24 and 26 April. It also took part in most of the counter-demonstrations organised by Paisley in response to the Catholic civil rights marches of the late 1960s. One example of their activity was the Battle of the Bogside, where the UPV along with the RUC and many other loyalists were involved in throwing stones, bottles, and bricks at Catholic residents. The motto of the UPV was "For God and Ulster".[1] Many of its members also belonged to the Ulster Volunteer Force.[2]
