Bloody Sunday Where Mutual Hostility Exploded Into Massacre

Bloody Sunday Where Mutual Hostility Exploded Into Massacre

 Bloody Sunday was a tragedy for the bereaved and the wounded, and a catastrophe for the people of Northern Ireland.

What came to be known as Bloody Sunday was a demonstration in Londonderry in Northern Ireland on Sunday, January 30, 1972, by Catholic supporters of civil rights that turned violent when British paratroopers opened fire, killing 13 and injuring 14 others (one of the injured later died).

Bloody Sunday caused an upsurge in support for the IRA which advocated violence against the United Kingdom to force it to withdraw from Northern Ireland. The incident remained a source of controversy for decades, with competing accounts of the events. In June 2010 the Saville Report, the final pronouncement of a government inquiry initiated by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998, concluded that none of the victims had posed any immediate threat to the soldiers and that their shooting was therefore without legal justification.

The commander of land forces in Northern Ireland wrote a confidential memorandum to the General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland, in which he expressed … the view that he was coming to the conclusion that “the minimum force required to deal with the 'Derry Young Hooligans' was, after clear warnings, to shoot selected ringleaders” This would have been legal after “ Reading The Riot Act” under the terms of the act of 1714 but this had been repealed five years earlier in 1967

Bloody Sunday began as a peaceful—but illegal—demonstration by some 10,000 people organized by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in opposition to the British government’s policy of interning suspected members of the IRA without trial. The demonstrators marched toward Guildhall Square but the British army had cordoned off much of the area . Some of the demonstrators confronted the soldiers, pelting them with stones and other projectiles. British troops responded by firing rubber bullets and a water cannon. Ordered to arrest as many demonstrators as possible, the army proceeded to confront the marchers mixed with rioters , and violence erupted

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Military Failings Brigadier MacLellan had delayed ordering an arrest operation by 1 Para until the rioters were separated from the peaceful marchers. When he did issue the order, he made clear that troops were not to enter into a running battle. Unfortunately Colonel Wilford did not comply with MacLellan's order … there was thus no separation between peaceful marchers and those who had been rioting. Colonel Wilford either deliberately disobeyed Brigadier MacLellan's order or failed for no good reason to appreciate the clear limits on what he had been authorised to do."

Who had fired the first shot long remained a point of contention . It is doubtful that even most of those present could be certain . Many soldiers believed they only opened fire after being fired upon as they were later by two Official IRA members from to a prearranged sniping position . The Roman Catholic community believed that the soldiers had knowingly opened fire on unarmed protesters. Never in question was the fact that after less than 30 minutes of shooting, 13 marchers lay dead .and more wounded . The initial inquiry concluded that the demonstrators fired the first shot but that none of those dead were armed . The Local coroner at his inquest called the deaths “unadulterated murder,”

Nine years and 200,000,000.00 pounds later in 2010 The 5,000-page Saville Report found that the first shot in the vicinity of the march had been fired by the British army and that, though there was some firing by republican paramilitaries, it did not provide any justification for the shooting of the civilian casualties. It also found that none of the soldiers had fired in response to attacks by those throwing projectiles and that none of those who were shot had posed any immediate threat to the soldiers.

“Those soldiers who fired possibly did so in the indefensible belief that all the civilians they fired at were probably either members of the IRA or were supporters of it and so deserved to be shot notwithstanding that they were not armed or posing any immediate threat of causing death or serious injury."( Saville report)

The crowd was composed of many totally innocent protesters a few rioters and a handful of IRA “ terrorists “

Four nail bombs were apparently found much later on Gerald Donaghey one of the dead ( allegedly planted ) . He was not preparing or attempting to throw them . No Soldier could have known . He was simply shot while trying to escape from the soldiers.

"The firing by soldiers of 1 Para on Bloody Sunday caused the deaths of 13 people and injury to a similar number, none of whom was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury. 

What happened on Bloody Sunday strengthened the Provisional IRA, increased nationalist resentment and hostility towards the army and exacerbated the violent conflict of the years that followed. Bloody Sunday was a tragedy for the bereaved and the wounded, and a catastrophe for the people of Northern Ireland."