Orange Volunteers
| Orange Volunteers Orange Volunteer Force | |
|---|---|
Orange Volunteers logo. The motto translates as "Fortune favours the bold" | |
| Leader | Clifford Peeples (until 2001) |
| Dates of operation | July 1998 – unknown |
| Active regions | Northern Ireland |
| Ideology | Ulster loyalism Protestant fundamentalism Anti-Catholicism Anti-Masonry |
| Status | unknown |
| Size | less than 25 members |
The Orange Volunteers (OV) or Orange Volunteer Force (OVF) is a small Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in 1998 by loyalists who opposed the Belfast Agreement and the loyalist ceasefires. Over the following year it carried out a wave of bomb and gun attacks on Catholics and Catholic-owned properties in rural areas, but since 2000 has been relatively inactive. The group has been associated with elements of the Orange Order and has a Calvinist fundamentalist ideology. OV's original leader was Clifford Peeples. The OV are a Proscribed Organisation in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000 and have been included on the U.S. State Department's, "Terrorist Exclusion List", since 2001.