Loyalist Volunteer Force
| Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) | |
|---|---|
| Participant in the Troubles | |
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|
| Active | August 1996 – October 2005 (on ceasefire since May 1998) |
| Ideology | Ulster loyalism |
| Leaders | Billy Wright;Mark Fulton;Robin King; Jim Fulton |
| Headquarters | Portadown |
| Area of operations | Northern Ireland |
| Strength | Unknown |
| Originated as | Ulster Volunteer Force |
| Allies | Red Hand Defenders and dissident UDA members |
| Opponents | Irish republicans/nationalists, rival loyalists |
The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) is a small Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and his unit split from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) after breaking its ceasefire. They had belonged to the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade and Wright had been the brigade's commander. In a two-year period from August 1996, the LVF waged a paramilitary campaign with the stated goal of combatting Irish republicanism. During this time it killed at least 14 people in gun and bomb attacks. Almost all of its victims were Catholic civilians who were killed at random. The LVF called off its campaign in August 1998 and decommissioned some of its weapons, but in the early 2000s a loyalist feud led to a number of killings. Since then, the LVF has been largely inactive, but its members are believed to have been involved in rioting and organized crime. In 2015, the security forces stated that the LVF "exists only as a criminal group" in Mid-Ulster and Antrim.
The LVF is a Proscribed Organisation in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000 and has been designated as a terrorist organization by the governments of the Republic of Ireland and the United States.
In a document, the LVF outlined its goals as follows:
There was also a Christian fundamentalist element within the LVF. Its leader, Billy Wright, was a born again Christian and former preacher. Professor Peter Shirlow, of Queen's University Belfast, noted that many LVF members saw Irish nationalism/republicanism and Catholicism as interlinked. They believed that Ulster Protestants were a persecuted people and Ulster was their "God-given land" which must be defended from these "dark and satanic forces".
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