ABSTRACT
In 2007 the Council erected new signage on the main arterial routes into the town which read "The Walled City". More recently, the award of the problematic title "UK City of Culture" in the 2013 inaugural year of the competition saw the river, which during the Troubles became the main sectarian demarcation line, replace the walled city as the focus for activities and celebrations. Both communities claim their walls as symbols of freedom, totems in many ways to a conflict that has sought out non-violent means but also as mobilising myths for their respective politics. The origin was physically as well as figuratively labelled with the writing on a gable wall of the slogan "You Are Now Entering Free Derry", a phrase borrowed from the Berkeley Free Speech movement's Situationist-inspired graffiti and demarcated further by a series of manned barricades surrounding the area.
