Issued on: 30/01/2022
A memorial engraved with the names of the 13 who died during the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings, and John Johnston who died later, in the Bogside area of Londonderry (Derry), in Northern Ireland on January 29, 2022. © Paul Faith, AFP
The Northern Irish city of Londonderry commemorates one of the darkest days in modern UK history on Sunday when, 50 years ago, British troops opened fire without provocation on civil rights protesters.
The anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” comes with Northern Ireland’s fragile peace destabilised by Brexit, and with families of the victims despondent over whether the soldiers involved will ever face trial.
Charlie Nash saw his 19-year-old cousin William Nash killed by one of more than 100 high-velocity rounds fired by members of the British Parachute Regiment on January 30, 1972.
“We thought there might be rioting, but nothing, nothing like what happened. We thought at first they were rubber bullets,” Nash, now 73, told AFP.
“But then we saw Hugh Gilmour (one of six 17-year-old victims) lying dead. We couldn’t take it in. Everyone was running,” he said.
“It’s important for the rest of the world to see what they done to us that day. But will we ever see justice? Never, especially not from Boris Johnson.”
The Northern Irish city of Londonderry commemorates one of the darkest days in modern UK history on Sunday when, 50 years ago, British troops opened fire without provocation on civil rights protesters.
The anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” comes with Northern Ireland’s fragile peace destabilised by Brexit, and with families of the victims despondent over whether the soldiers involved will ever face trial.
Charlie Nash saw his 19-year-old cousin William Nash killed by one of more than 100 high-velocity rounds fired by members of the British Parachute Regiment on January 30, 1972.
“We thought there might be rioting, but nothing, nothing like what happened. We thought at first they were rubber bullets,” Nash, now 73, told AFP.
“But then we saw Hugh Gilmour (one of six 17-year-old victims) lying dead. We couldn’t take it in. Everyone was running,” he said.
“It’s important for the rest of the world to see what they done to us that day. But will we ever see justice? Never, especially not from Boris Johnson.”
A British soldier drags a Catholic protester during Northern Ireland's "Bloody Sunday" killings on January 30, 1972 -
Copyright AFP/File THOPSON
Amnesty?
The UK prime minister this week called Bloody Sunday a “tragic day in our history”. But his government is pushing legislation that critics say amounts to an amnesty for all killings during Northern Ireland’s three decades of sectarian unrest, including by security forces.
Thirteen protesters died on Bloody Sunday, when the paratroopers opened fire through narrow streets and across open wasteland.
Some of the victims were shot in the back, or while on the ground, or while waving white handkerchiefs.
At the entrance to the city’s Catholic Bogside area stands a wall that normally proclaims in large writing: “You are now entering Free Derry.”
But this weekend, as relatives of the victims prepare to retrace the 1972 civil rights march, the mural says: “There is no British justice.”
After an initial government report largely exonerated the paratroopers and authorities, a landmark 12-year inquiry running to 5,000 pages found in 2010 that the victims were unarmed and posed no threat, and that the soldiers’ commander on the ground violated his orders.
“We in the inquiry came to the conclusion that the shootings were unjustified and unjustifiable,” its chairman Mark Saville, a former judge and member of the UK House of Lords, told BBC radio on Saturday.
“And I do understand, people feel that in those circumstances justice has yet to be done,” he said, while expressing concern that with the surviving soldiers now elderly, the government should have launched any prosecution “a very long time ago”.
Then as now, Londonderry – known as Derry to pro-Irish nationalists – was a largely Catholic city. But housing, jobs and education were segregated in favour of the pro-British Protestant minority.
Simmering tensions over the inequality made Londonderry the cradle of the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland starting in the late 1960s, which finally ended with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
The UK prime minister this week called Bloody Sunday a “tragic day in our history”. But his government is pushing legislation that critics say amounts to an amnesty for all killings during Northern Ireland’s three decades of sectarian unrest, including by security forces.
Thirteen protesters died on Bloody Sunday, when the paratroopers opened fire through narrow streets and across open wasteland.
Some of the victims were shot in the back, or while on the ground, or while waving white handkerchiefs.
At the entrance to the city’s Catholic Bogside area stands a wall that normally proclaims in large writing: “You are now entering Free Derry.”
But this weekend, as relatives of the victims prepare to retrace the 1972 civil rights march, the mural says: “There is no British justice.”
After an initial government report largely exonerated the paratroopers and authorities, a landmark 12-year inquiry running to 5,000 pages found in 2010 that the victims were unarmed and posed no threat, and that the soldiers’ commander on the ground violated his orders.
“We in the inquiry came to the conclusion that the shootings were unjustified and unjustifiable,” its chairman Mark Saville, a former judge and member of the UK House of Lords, told BBC radio on Saturday.
“And I do understand, people feel that in those circumstances justice has yet to be done,” he said, while expressing concern that with the surviving soldiers now elderly, the government should have launched any prosecution “a very long time ago”.
Then as now, Londonderry – known as Derry to pro-Irish nationalists – was a largely Catholic city. But housing, jobs and education were segregated in favour of the pro-British Protestant minority.
Simmering tensions over the inequality made Londonderry the cradle of the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland starting in the late 1960s, which finally ended with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
‘Reckless’
The UK’s divorce from the European Union has unsettled the fragile post-1998 consensus.
Protestant unionists want Johnson’s government to scrap a protocol governing post-Brexit trade for Northern Ireland, which treats the province differently from the UK mainland (comprising England, Scotland and Wales).
The government, which is in protracted talks with the EU on the issue, is sympathetic to their demands.
Heading into regional elections in May, some nationalists hope that Brexit could help achieve what the Irish Republican Army (IRA) never did—a united Ireland, a century after the UK carved out a Protestant statelet in the north.
Sinn Fein, which was once the political wing of the IRA, is running ahead of the once dominant unionists in opinion polls.
“Northern Ireland finds itself again in the eye of a political storm where we appear to be collateral damage for a prime minister whose future is hanging in the balance,” said professor Deirdre Heenan, a Londonderry resident who teaches social policy at Ulster University.
“The government’s behaviour around the peace process has been reckless in the extreme,” she added.
Protestant hardliners have issued their own reminders of where they stand: leading up to the anniversary, Parachute Regiment flags have been flying in one unionist stronghold of Londonderry, to the revulsion of nationalists.
“How can they do that, this weekend of all weekends? These are innocent boys killed by the Paras,” said George Ryan, 61, a tour guide and local historian.
“Will any of the troops ever stand up in a court of law?” he added.
“It’s looking more unlikely than ever, but it’s important as ever.”
(AFP)
'Bloody Sunday': 10 minutes of killing that shook N.Ireland
'
- 'Whitewash' -
The troops claimed to have come under sustained gunfire as well as attacks with nail bombs. They said they aimed away from the demonstrators.
Their claims, largely accepted in the official report by senior English judge John Widgery, published later that year, were not backed up by independent accounts.
No soldiers were injured in the operation and no guns or bombs recovered.
The victims' families derided the report as a "whitewash".
- Explosion in violence -
The killings proved a boon to the nascent Provisional Irish Republican Army, fighting for Northern Ireland's reunification with Ireland, whose ranks swelled with new recruits.
On February 2, an angry crowd set fire to the British embassy in Dublin.
On March 24, London suspended the Protestant-dominated Northern Ireland provincial government, leading to decades of direct rule from the British capital.
- Apology -
In June 2010 a new report published after a 12-year investigation said British troops fired first and had given misleading accounts of what happened.
The report by senior British judge Mark Saville concluded that none of the victims was armed, soldiers gave no warnings before opening fire and the shootings were a "catastrophe" for Northern Ireland and led to increased violence.
Following the report then British prime minister David Cameron apologised for the killings, saying: "There is no doubt... what happened on 'Bloody Sunday' was both unjustified and unjustifiable. It was wrong."
- Ex-soldier charged -
On March 14, 2018 an ex-paratrooper, known only as Soldier F, was charged with murdering two people and the attempted murder of four others.
But the charges were dropped in July 2021 after a backlash by MPs from Britain's ruling Conservative Party.
"Bloody Sunday", immortalised by a song by Irish rock group U2, was one of the darkest episodes in the conflict between Northern Ireland's Catholic nationalists -- who want a united Ireland -- and Protestant unionists loyal to Britain.
'
Bloody Sunday: What happened on January 30, 1972
(AFP/Kenan AUGEARD)
Sat, January 29, 2022
"Bloody Sunday" was a turning point in three decades of violence in Northern Ireland known as the "Troubles".
On Sunday January 30, 1972, British paratroopers shot dead 13 Catholic demonstrators in the province's second city, Londonderry.
Here is how events unfolded:
- Peaceful march -
The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) organised an anti-internment march to take place that day in the city Catholics call Derry.
They were angry at the increasing internment without trial of Catholic nationalists since the previous August.
The march was illegal. Northern Ireland's Protestant authorities had declared a year-long ban on all marches amid spiralling unrest since civil rights protesters began demanding an end to voting, housing and job discrimination against the minority Catholic community in 1968.
Nevertheless, at least 15,000 people joined the march, which set off in a carnival-like mood from the Creggan Estate, a few kilometres from the city centre, through the Catholic Bogside district to Guildhall Square.
Crack troops from the British 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment, drafted in that day, were waiting at barricades to stop the march reaching the city centre.
- Confrontation -
A section of the crowd turned into William Street and youths began throwing stones at a British army barricade.
Troops were ordered to begin arrests and armoured cars drove into the crowd.
Around 4:10 pm soldiers started firing.
Within about 10 minutes 13 people were dead and a further 15 injured. Six of the dead were aged 17.
Sat, January 29, 2022
"Bloody Sunday" was a turning point in three decades of violence in Northern Ireland known as the "Troubles".
On Sunday January 30, 1972, British paratroopers shot dead 13 Catholic demonstrators in the province's second city, Londonderry.
Here is how events unfolded:
- Peaceful march -
The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) organised an anti-internment march to take place that day in the city Catholics call Derry.
They were angry at the increasing internment without trial of Catholic nationalists since the previous August.
The march was illegal. Northern Ireland's Protestant authorities had declared a year-long ban on all marches amid spiralling unrest since civil rights protesters began demanding an end to voting, housing and job discrimination against the minority Catholic community in 1968.
Nevertheless, at least 15,000 people joined the march, which set off in a carnival-like mood from the Creggan Estate, a few kilometres from the city centre, through the Catholic Bogside district to Guildhall Square.
Crack troops from the British 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment, drafted in that day, were waiting at barricades to stop the march reaching the city centre.
- Confrontation -
A section of the crowd turned into William Street and youths began throwing stones at a British army barricade.
Troops were ordered to begin arrests and armoured cars drove into the crowd.
Around 4:10 pm soldiers started firing.
Within about 10 minutes 13 people were dead and a further 15 injured. Six of the dead were aged 17.
- 'Whitewash' -
The troops claimed to have come under sustained gunfire as well as attacks with nail bombs. They said they aimed away from the demonstrators.
Their claims, largely accepted in the official report by senior English judge John Widgery, published later that year, were not backed up by independent accounts.
No soldiers were injured in the operation and no guns or bombs recovered.
The victims' families derided the report as a "whitewash".
- Explosion in violence -
The killings proved a boon to the nascent Provisional Irish Republican Army, fighting for Northern Ireland's reunification with Ireland, whose ranks swelled with new recruits.
On February 2, an angry crowd set fire to the British embassy in Dublin.
On March 24, London suspended the Protestant-dominated Northern Ireland provincial government, leading to decades of direct rule from the British capital.
- Apology -
In June 2010 a new report published after a 12-year investigation said British troops fired first and had given misleading accounts of what happened.
The report by senior British judge Mark Saville concluded that none of the victims was armed, soldiers gave no warnings before opening fire and the shootings were a "catastrophe" for Northern Ireland and led to increased violence.
Following the report then British prime minister David Cameron apologised for the killings, saying: "There is no doubt... what happened on 'Bloody Sunday' was both unjustified and unjustifiable. It was wrong."
- Ex-soldier charged -
On March 14, 2018 an ex-paratrooper, known only as Soldier F, was charged with murdering two people and the attempted murder of four others.
But the charges were dropped in July 2021 after a backlash by MPs from Britain's ruling Conservative Party.
"Bloody Sunday", immortalised by a song by Irish rock group U2, was one of the darkest episodes in the conflict between Northern Ireland's Catholic nationalists -- who want a united Ireland -- and Protestant unionists loyal to Britain.
The victims have been remembered in gable-end murals and memorials in Londonderry (AFP/Paul Faith)
Northern Ireland marks 50 years since Bloody Sunday
A walk of remembrance has taken place for the 13 unarmed civilians killed by British soldiers in January 1972. The massacre was a major turning point in Northern Ireland's era of violence known as the Troubles.
Several hundred people, including relatives of the victims, retraced the fateful 1972 march that preceded the tragedy, walking in sombre silence
Commemorations took place in Northern Ireland on Sunday to mark the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday massacre where British troops killed 13 unarmed protesters.
Families of the victims retraced the steps of the original 1972 civil rights march, through the city of Londonderry, also known as Derry.
In a show of solidarity, crowds lined the streets as relatives walked to the Bloody Sunday Monument, where the killings took place.
Children bearing white roses and portraits of the victims joined the poignant procession.
The anniversary comes as Northern Ireland's fragile peace has been destabilized by Brexit, and with families angry that no one has been convicted for the murders.
In a reminder of the tensions that remain in the province, protestant unionist hardliners flew flags of the British army's Parachute Regiment in an area of Londonderry ahead of the anniversary.
Some of the victims were shot in the back, or while on the ground, or while waving white handkerchiefs as the shots ripped through narrow streets
What happened on Bloody Sunday?
The killings were one of the darkest episodes in the conflict between Northern Ireland's Catholic nationalists — who want a united Ireland — and Protestant unionists loyal to Britain.
They occurred during a march on January 30, 1972, in opposition to the detention without trial of Catholic nationalists during the so-called Troubles that began four years earlier.
Despite a ban on protesting, more than 15,000 people set off from a housing estate towards the city center. When youths began throwing stones at a British army barricade, the troops were ordered to move in.
A few minutes later, soldiers started firing, killing 13 people and injuring 15 others.
The soldiers claimed to have been attacked by nail bombs and gunfire and insisted they aimed away from the demonstrators.
While their claims were accepted in the official report published later that year, they were not backed up by independent accounts.
The victims' families derided the report as a "whitewash," and the killings spurred recruitment to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), the paramilitary group fighting for reunification with Ireland.
The IRA stepped up its campaign of terror in Northern Ireland, the British mainland and abroad, which lasted until 1998 — the same year as the signing of the Good Friday Agreement peace deal.
Fourteen Catholic demonstrators were shot dead by British paratroopers during a peaceful but banned rally in Londonderry
What has happened since?
The UK government apologized in 2010 after a second official inquiry found that the soldiers fired without justification on unarmed, fleeing civilians and then lied about it for decades.
The 5,000-page report, which followed a 12-year inquiry, concluded that the protesters posed no threat, and that the soldiers' commander on the ground violated his orders.
But five decades on, relatives are still searching for the justice they believe is needed for a scarred society to heal.
One former British soldier was charged in 2019 in the killing of two of the protesters and the injury of four others.
But last year, the current British government announced a plan to halt all prosecutions of soldiers and militants in a bid to draw a line under the conflict.
The decision has angered victims' families and has been rejected by all the main political parties in Northern Ireland.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament on Wednesday that Bloody Sunday was "one of the darkest days in our history" and that the country "must learn from the past."
How is Brexit threatening peace in Northern Ireland?
The UK's divorce from the European Union has unsettled the fragile post-1998 consensus.
Protestant unionists want Johnson's government to scrap a protocol governing post-Brexit trade for Northern Ireland, which treats the province differently from the UK mainland.
The government, which is in protracted talks with the EU on the issue, is sympathetic to their demands.
Heading into regional elections in May, some nationalists hope that Brexit could help achieve what the Irish Republican Army (IRA) never did — a united Ireland, a century after the UK carved out a Protestant statelet in the north.
Memories of Troubles slow to fade in Northern Ireland
A walk of remembrance has taken place for the 13 unarmed civilians killed by British soldiers in January 1972. The massacre was a major turning point in Northern Ireland's era of violence known as the Troubles.
Several hundred people, including relatives of the victims, retraced the fateful 1972 march that preceded the tragedy, walking in sombre silence
Commemorations took place in Northern Ireland on Sunday to mark the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday massacre where British troops killed 13 unarmed protesters.
Families of the victims retraced the steps of the original 1972 civil rights march, through the city of Londonderry, also known as Derry.
In a show of solidarity, crowds lined the streets as relatives walked to the Bloody Sunday Monument, where the killings took place.
Children bearing white roses and portraits of the victims joined the poignant procession.
The anniversary comes as Northern Ireland's fragile peace has been destabilized by Brexit, and with families angry that no one has been convicted for the murders.
In a reminder of the tensions that remain in the province, protestant unionist hardliners flew flags of the British army's Parachute Regiment in an area of Londonderry ahead of the anniversary.
Some of the victims were shot in the back, or while on the ground, or while waving white handkerchiefs as the shots ripped through narrow streets
What happened on Bloody Sunday?
The killings were one of the darkest episodes in the conflict between Northern Ireland's Catholic nationalists — who want a united Ireland — and Protestant unionists loyal to Britain.
They occurred during a march on January 30, 1972, in opposition to the detention without trial of Catholic nationalists during the so-called Troubles that began four years earlier.
Despite a ban on protesting, more than 15,000 people set off from a housing estate towards the city center. When youths began throwing stones at a British army barricade, the troops were ordered to move in.
A few minutes later, soldiers started firing, killing 13 people and injuring 15 others.
The soldiers claimed to have been attacked by nail bombs and gunfire and insisted they aimed away from the demonstrators.
While their claims were accepted in the official report published later that year, they were not backed up by independent accounts.
The victims' families derided the report as a "whitewash," and the killings spurred recruitment to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), the paramilitary group fighting for reunification with Ireland.
The IRA stepped up its campaign of terror in Northern Ireland, the British mainland and abroad, which lasted until 1998 — the same year as the signing of the Good Friday Agreement peace deal.
Fourteen Catholic demonstrators were shot dead by British paratroopers during a peaceful but banned rally in Londonderry
What has happened since?
The UK government apologized in 2010 after a second official inquiry found that the soldiers fired without justification on unarmed, fleeing civilians and then lied about it for decades.
The 5,000-page report, which followed a 12-year inquiry, concluded that the protesters posed no threat, and that the soldiers' commander on the ground violated his orders.
But five decades on, relatives are still searching for the justice they believe is needed for a scarred society to heal.
One former British soldier was charged in 2019 in the killing of two of the protesters and the injury of four others.
But last year, the current British government announced a plan to halt all prosecutions of soldiers and militants in a bid to draw a line under the conflict.
The decision has angered victims' families and has been rejected by all the main political parties in Northern Ireland.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament on Wednesday that Bloody Sunday was "one of the darkest days in our history" and that the country "must learn from the past."
How is Brexit threatening peace in Northern Ireland?
The UK's divorce from the European Union has unsettled the fragile post-1998 consensus.
Protestant unionists want Johnson's government to scrap a protocol governing post-Brexit trade for Northern Ireland, which treats the province differently from the UK mainland.
The government, which is in protracted talks with the EU on the issue, is sympathetic to their demands.
Heading into regional elections in May, some nationalists hope that Brexit could help achieve what the Irish Republican Army (IRA) never did — a united Ireland, a century after the UK carved out a Protestant statelet in the north.
Memories of Troubles slow to fade in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland marks 50 years since Bloody Sunday
PHOTO'S 1 of 20
PHOTO'S 1 of 20
People take part in a march to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 'Bloody Sunday' shootings with the photographs of some of the victims in Londonderry, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022. In 1972 British soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians at a civil rights march, killing 13 on what is known as Bloody Sunday or the Bogside Massacre. Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the shootings in the Bogside area of Londonderry .(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of people gathered Sunday in Northern Ireland to mark 50 years since “Bloody Sunday,” one of the deadliest days in the conflict known as The Troubles.
Thirteen people were killed and 15 others wounded when British soldiers fired on civil rights protesters on Jan. 30, 1972, in the city of Derry, also known as Londonderry.
Relatives of those killed and injured half a century ago took part in a remembrance walk Sunday, retracing the steps of the original march. Crowds gathered at the Bloody Sunday Monument, where political leaders including Irish Premier Micheal Martin laid wreaths in a ceremony.
The names of those who were killed and wounded were read out during the 45-minute memorial service.
Britain’s government apologized in 2010 after an official inquiry found that the soldiers fired without justification on unarmed, fleeing civilians and then lied about it for decades. The report refuted an initial investigation that took place soon after the slayings that said the soldiers had been defending themselves against Irish Republican Army bombers and gunmen.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament on Wednesday that Bloody Sunday was “one of the darkest days in our history” and that the country “must learn from the past.”
One former British soldier was charged in 2019 in the killing of two of the protesters and the injury of four others. But prosecutors decided last year not to proceed with the case because there was no longer a prospect of conviction. Families of one of the victims have brought a legal challenge against that decision.
Martin, the Irish leader, said Sunday that there should be full accountability in all legacy issues.
“I don’t believe this will be any amnesty for anybody,” he said after meeting with the families of victims. “It is important because time is moving on too for many, many families and families need closure.”
Michael McKinney, whose brother William was among the victims, criticized the British government’s plans to make it harder to prosecute military veterans for alleged offenses committed years earlier.
“They are trying to deny us justice because they are scared to face justice. But we want to send a very clear warning to the British government. If they pursue their proposals, the Bloody Sunday families will be ready to meet them head on,” McKinney said.
Irish President Michael D. Higgins is expected to deliver a message to the affected families later Sunday.
LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of people gathered Sunday in Northern Ireland to mark 50 years since “Bloody Sunday,” one of the deadliest days in the conflict known as The Troubles.
Thirteen people were killed and 15 others wounded when British soldiers fired on civil rights protesters on Jan. 30, 1972, in the city of Derry, also known as Londonderry.
Relatives of those killed and injured half a century ago took part in a remembrance walk Sunday, retracing the steps of the original march. Crowds gathered at the Bloody Sunday Monument, where political leaders including Irish Premier Micheal Martin laid wreaths in a ceremony.
The names of those who were killed and wounded were read out during the 45-minute memorial service.
Britain’s government apologized in 2010 after an official inquiry found that the soldiers fired without justification on unarmed, fleeing civilians and then lied about it for decades. The report refuted an initial investigation that took place soon after the slayings that said the soldiers had been defending themselves against Irish Republican Army bombers and gunmen.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament on Wednesday that Bloody Sunday was “one of the darkest days in our history” and that the country “must learn from the past.”
One former British soldier was charged in 2019 in the killing of two of the protesters and the injury of four others. But prosecutors decided last year not to proceed with the case because there was no longer a prospect of conviction. Families of one of the victims have brought a legal challenge against that decision.
Martin, the Irish leader, said Sunday that there should be full accountability in all legacy issues.
“I don’t believe this will be any amnesty for anybody,” he said after meeting with the families of victims. “It is important because time is moving on too for many, many families and families need closure.”
Michael McKinney, whose brother William was among the victims, criticized the British government’s plans to make it harder to prosecute military veterans for alleged offenses committed years earlier.
“They are trying to deny us justice because they are scared to face justice. But we want to send a very clear warning to the British government. If they pursue their proposals, the Bloody Sunday families will be ready to meet them head on,” McKinney said.
Irish President Michael D. Higgins is expected to deliver a message to the affected families later Sunday.
