Shankill Defense Association

The Shankill Defense Association was one of the largest early loyalist vigilante groups in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. Its stated goal was to protect Protestant/Loyalist neighborhoods from Catholic/Republican attacks, though the SDA is also believed to have pressured Catholics to move out of predominantly Protestant neighborhoods. Many of its members also served in the Ulster Special Constabulary, a loyalist volunteer paramilitary force organized by the British to maintain order. SDA was a precursor of the larger, more organized Loyalist Protestant paramilitaries. The SDA and similar Protestant neighborhood defense associations later merged to form the core of the Ulster Defense Association (UDA), which became the largest loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland.