Bloody Sunday (1972)
| Date | 30 January 1972 16:10 |
|---|---|
| Perpetrators | British Army |
| Type | shooting |
| Interest of | Saville Inquiry |
| Description | A shooting of unarmed civil rights protesters and bystanders by the British Army. |
Bloody Sunday — sometimes called the Bogside Massacre — was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, in which twenty-six unarmed civil rights protesters or bystanders were shot by the British Army Parachute Regiment during a Civil Rights Association march. Thirteen men, seven of whom were teenagers, died immediately or soon after. Another man died four and a half months later from his injuries. Two protesters were injured when they were run down by army vehicles.
Contents
The Widgery Tribunal
Baron Widgery lead a purported investigation into the events of Bloody Sunday. He produced a report which exonerated the army and instead laid the blame for the killings on the march organisers for creating a dangerous situation where a confrontation was inevitable. His fiercest criticism of the Army was that their "firing bordered on the reckless".
The Saville Inquiry Report
The report of the Saville Inquiry, published on 15 June 2010 some 38 years after the events and immediately accepted by the British government, found that all of those shot were unarmed, and that the killings were "unjustified and unjustifiable." Five of those wounded were shot in the back.
Detailing 5,000 pages of evidence taken over 12 years of hearings, The Saville Report concluded that:
- none of the 14 dead was carrying a gun,
- no warnings were given,
- no soldiers were under threat
- the troops were the first (and probably only ones) to open fire with firearms
The Saville Reports represents an official declaration of innocence for the victims of the biggest British military killing of UK civilians in their own country since the Peterloo massacre in 1819. The deaths propelled a generation of nationalists into the Provisional IRA.
Related Documents
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:Saville Inquiry Review | article | 16 June 2011 | Eamonn McCann | |
| Document:The Brutal Legacy of Bloody Sunday is a Powerful Warning to Those Hoping to Save Brexit | Article | 19 March 2019 | Patrick Cockburn | What we are seeing is the two most divisive issues in modern British history coming together in a toxic blend: these are Brexit and the Irish question. |
The Official Culprit
| Name |
|---|
| British Army (mostly Parachute Regiment) |
