Ulster Protestant in the context of "Ulster Plantation"

The Armagh disturbances was a period of intense sectarian fighting in the 1780s and 1790s between the Ulster Protestant Peep o' Day Boys and the Roman Catholic Defenders, in County Armagh, Kingdom of Ireland, culminating in the Battle of the Diamond in 1795.

The Northern Ireland civil rights movement dates to the early 1960s, when a number of initiatives emerged in Northern Ireland which challenged the inequality and discrimination against ethnic Irish Catholics that was perpetrated by the Ulster Protestant establishment (composed largely of Protestant Ulster loyalists and unionists). The Campaign for Social Justice (CSJ) was founded by Conn McCluskey and his wife, Patricia. Conn was a doctor, and Patricia was a social worker who had worked in Glasgow for a period, and who had a background in housing activism. Both were involved in the Homeless Citizens League, an organisation founded after Catholic women occupied disused social housing. The HCL evolved into the CSJ, focusing on lobbying, research and publicising discrimination. The campaign for Derry University was another mid-1960s campaign.

The most important organisation established during this period was the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA), established in 1967 to protest discrimination. NICRA's objectives were:

During 12–16 August 1969, there was an outbreak of political and sectarian violence throughout Northern Ireland, which is often seen as the beginning of the thirty-year conflict known as the Troubles. There had been sporadic violence throughout the year arising out of the Northern Ireland civil rights campaign, which demanded an end to discrimination against Catholics and Irish nationalists. Civil rights marches had been attacked by Protestant loyalists, and protesters often clashed with the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the overwhelmingly Protestant police force.

On 12 August, the Battle of the Bogside erupted in Derry: three days of fierce clashes between the RUC and thousands of Catholic/nationalist residents of Derry's Bogside district. The besieged residents built barricades and set up first aid posts and workshops for making petrol bombs. Police fired CS gas at rioters for the first time in the history of the UK. In support of the Bogsiders, on 13 August Catholics/nationalists held protests elsewhere in Northern Ireland, some of which led to violence. The bloodiest clashes were in Belfast, where seven people were killed and hundreds wounded, five of them Catholic civilians shot by police. Protesters clashed with both the police and with loyalists, who attacked Catholic districts. Scores of homes and businesses were burnt out, most of them owned by Catholics, and thousands of mostly Catholic families were driven from their homes. In some cases, police helped the loyalists and failed to protect Catholic areas. Both republican and loyalist paramilitaries were involved in the clashes. There were also clashes between protesters and police in Armagh, where a protester was killed by police, as well as in Dungannon and Newry.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party until 2008. It is currently led by Gavin Robinson, who initially stepped in as an interim after the resignation of Jeffrey Donaldson. It is the second-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and won five seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom at the 2024 election. The party has been mostly described as right-wing and socially conservative, being anti-abortion and opposing same-sex marriage. The DUP sees itself as defending Britishness and Ulster Protestant culture against Irish nationalism and republicanism. It is also Eurosceptic and supported Brexit.

The DUP evolved from the Protestant Unionist Party and has historically strong links to the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, the church Paisley founded. During the Troubles, the DUP opposed sharing power with Irish nationalists or republicans as a means of resolving the conflict, and likewise rejected attempts to involve the Republic of Ireland in Northern Irish affairs. It campaigned against the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973, the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985, and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. In the 1980s, the DUP was involved in setting up the loyalist paramilitary movements Third Force and Ulster Resistance, the latter of which helped smuggle a large shipment of weapons into Northern Ireland.

The Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland, or Loyal Orange Institution of Scotland, Orange Order in Scotland, The Orange Order is the oldest and biggest Protestant fraternity in Scotland. The Loyal Orange Institution was an official participant in the 2014 independence referendum. Its headquarters are in Motherwell, having previously been in Bridgeton, Glasgow with 15,000 members in the Scottish Lowlands.

The Orange Order was formed in Ulster in 1795 by Ulster Protestants, many of whom had Scottish roots. It was brought to Scotland in 1798 by soldiers returning from service in Ulster, and its membership was soon swelled by large numbers of Ulster Protestant immigrants. As such, the Scottish branch has strong links with Northern Ireland and Ulster unionism/loyalism. During the Troubles, lodges were accused of having links with loyalist paramilitaries.

The Twelfth (also called Orangemens' Day) is an Ulster Protestant celebration held on 12 July. It celebrates the Glorious Revolution and victory of Protestant king William of Orange over Catholic king James II at the Battle of the Boyne, which ensured an Anglican Protestant Ascendancy and the passing of the Penal Laws, which restricted Catholics. On and around the Twelfth, large parades are held by the Orange Order and Ulster loyalist marching bands, streets are decorated with Union Jacks and bunting, and large towering bonfires are lit. Today, the Twelfth is mainly celebrated in Northern Ireland, where it is a public holiday, but smaller celebrations are held elsewhere, such as Scotland, Canada, and Australia.

The Twelfth began in the late 18th century in Ulster, and many Ulster Protestants see it as an important part of their culture. Catholics and Irish nationalists see it as anti-Catholic and supremacist. Since the beginning, it has been occasionally accompanied by sectarian violence, especially during times of political tension. Orange marches through Catholic neighbourhoods, and the burning of Irish flags on bonfires, are especially controversial. The Drumcree conflict is the most well-known dispute involving Orange marches. Sectarian violence around the Twelfth worsened during the Troubles, but today, most events pass off peacefully. Recently, there have been attempts to draw tourists to the main Twelfth parades and promote them as family-friendly events.