1968 AD

1968 In the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province by the British Imperial Coalition Government and still under the control of the "Official" Unionist Stormont Government. the population there were in principal supposed to be all British citizens with the same rights as the people in Britain, but those in the Ascendancy authority there had been allowed to treat the Catholic Irish population however they liked with no restraint from those in the British Labour Government under Harold Wilson in Britain. Things were finally coming to a head, as the people there could take no more of the ongoing Ascendancy's blatant continuing sectarianism and ethnic oppression. Owing to the original programme begun there by the Campaign for Social Justice who always sought recourse for Constitutional reform through proof of statistics, some of what they had found out came under the jurisdiction of Austin Currie, a young Irish Nationalist M.P. He was now one of the Opposition M.P.'s sitting in the "Official" Unionist dominated Stormont Parliament in Belfast and he publicly advised them of the situation that had applied since 1945 up until the present time. There was definite statistical proof that the Unionists in control in the local Dungannon area had allocated 71 % of all the housing to non - Catholics despite the fact that the Catholic Irish in the area made up 53 % of the population, which meant they had only received 29 % of the housing there, and although he now raised this blatant unfair issue in the Stormont Parliament it received no action or re - action from those in overall authority there. Despite this, it was now out in the open and publicly recorded for all to see, who were concerned in any way. Also as to employment there, although overall the Catholic Irish were 1/3 of the population, at the shipbuilding firm of Harland & Wolfe only a token 100 were employed out of a work force of 10,000.

    All the heads of the Derry Council in Co. Derry, which was predominantly a Catholic Irish area, were all Unionists although the Catholic Irish there were holding down 33 % of the jobs, and in the Public Service the Catholic Irish were holding only 11 % of the positions although they were 1/3 of the overall population there.

 January 8th: The IRA at this time was at it's lowest ebb, but were still active in the Land Leagues and such similar associations throughout Ireland.

April - May: The new Kinvard Park Housing Estate at Caledon had a majority non - Catholic population where the Irish Catholic Mac Kennas had moved into the vacant No 9 and the Irish Catholic Goodfellows into the vacant No 11 where they had in desperation squatted into the premises there after encouragement by Austin Currie their local Catholic Irish Nationalist M.P. in the Stormont Parliament, as a protest against the Unionist controlled Council who denied houses to the Catholic Irish there. June: No. 9 was allocated to an unmarried Emily Beattie a 19 year old girl who worked for the local Unionist Council lawyer who was also trying to obtain the seat in Co. Armagh. June 18th: The Irish Catholic Goodfellows were physically thrown out of No.11, which was by now covered by the Press and also shown on the T.V.  June 19th: Austin Currie the local Irish Nationalist M.P. again raised this unfair housing issue also in the "Official" Unionist controlled Stormont Parliament where he was told by John Taylor, the hard line "Official" Unionist, that he was wasting everybody's time. He was also then physically thrown out of the "Official" Unionist controlled Stormont Parliament, so he went to No. 9 personally and occupied the house himself where he was then served with a writ and then thrown out physically from there again into the street by a R.U.C. policeman who turned out to be Miss Beattie's brother and the whole affair was also reported and shown on T.V., which now brought mass protests. The following Saturday, 2,500 Irish Catholics accompanied by a group of non - Catholics and students from Co. Derry, Co. Fermanagh and Co. Tyrone protested by carrying out a march in the rain while singing, " We will overcome."     

     Bernadette Josephine Devlin, (later on Mac Aliskey) from Co. Tyrone in Central Ulster, who had been educated at Queen's University in Belfast, became a member of the Civil Rights Association, and the Peoples Democracy Association who were a Left Wing group concerned with Civil rights with no military wing and little public support, made up of students from the Queen's University in Belfast. Meanwhile the Official Sinn Fein Party / Republican clubs were not so involved in the south / now called the Worker's Party committed to  Socialism and opposed to terrorism as their military wing had been done away with in 1977 / Provisional Sinn Fein.

August: A further attempt was now made to obtain normal Civil Rights from the "Official" Unionist controlled Government in the Stormont Parliament in Belfast as the Civil Rights Association held their first march peacefully with over 3,000 people both Catholic and non - Catholic attending, going from Coalisland to the town of Dungannon. Meanwhile 1500 Unionists who were against the Catholic Irish receiving their normal civil rights, who were egged on by the fanatic religious hard liner the Rev. Ian Paisley's Unionist Volunteers / U.V.F. held a meeting nearby intending to bring about confrontation, and the R.U.C. police to avoid this occurring, on this occasion, ensured the two bodies were kept separated. The Rev. Ian Paisley who had by now built up a hard core following to suite his particular agenda, of 10,000 or more, had begun a campaign also against Terence O Neill the "official" Unionist Prime Minister there, and was backed up by his second in command, Ronald Bunting, who was the actual commandant of the Paisleyite U.V.F. / Ulster Volunteer Force, which included members from the "B" Special Reserve police and both had also founded another body, the Constitution Defence Committee. The Rev. Ian Paisley, the leader of the Independent Free Presbyterian Church group, that had no connection with the real Presbyterian Church, had already served a prison sentence for leading a previous march through an Irish Catholic area in Belfast, causing a riot.

August: In the Irish Republic a Bill to do away with Proportional Representation, similar to the one previously put forward by Eamonn de Valera for the first past the post method, was rejected once again by a referendum of the voters there in Eire, just as it had been in 1959.

    Edward Mac Lysaght the Chief Herald of the Irish Office of Arms, died at the grand old age of 98 years and 4 months, and had been originally born on his way to Australia to a family from Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province, and on his return to Ireland he had later on became the Chief Genealogical Officer and Keeper of Manuscripts at the Irish National Library in the Irish Republic.

October: The Civil Rights members in the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province that were still under the control of the "Official" Unionist Stormont Government there intended to demonstrate their demand for "Democracy" once again, and this time they were to march to the City of Derry, which openly symbolised to all the actual social injustices that were carried out in the north, as the majority population there in that city were Irish Catholics and the statistics of the blatant gerrymandering there stood out for all to see. The Apprentice Boys Association was inspired to create further confrontation, after they had learnt of the Civil Rights intention to march and they too decided to hold a march also along the same route.

October 3rd:  Although the Civil Rights Association in the 6 Counties in the Ulster Province were to be led by a non - Catholic Ivar Cooper and a Catholic John Hume they were was banned by William Craig the "Official" Unionist Stormont Government's Minister for Home Affairs.

October 5th: Despite the ban 2,000 Civil Rights marchers assembled at the Waterside area on the east bank of the River Foyle intending to march over to Derry City, and when they reached the Craigavon Bridge the R.U.C. police and their "B. Specials," carrying guns in their holsters, barred their way and told them to disperse. As they retraced their steps, another body of R.U.C. police also barred their way, who then carried out a baton charge on them, and all of this unconcealed violence was to be reported once again and especially seen on the T.V. in England for the first time. (This introduced the British general population there in Britain as to what was really going on in the north - east of Ireland). The R.U.C. police were seen blatantly and violently attacking the peaceful marchers, which included many student girls, while Gerry Fitt the Independent Labour M.P. who sat in the Westminster Parliament, also received a cut on his head. The T.V. viewers in England were also amazed to see the marchers were carrying signs calling for, "One man, One vote," as they had no idea that any such discrimination actually occurred in a British occupied state. 87 other people were also injured beside Gerry Fitt who was still bleeding when he was interviewed on T.V. that night as the R.U.C. police carried out many arrests of the marchers, including Bernadette Devlin one of the University students, although she was one of those who had been under attack and they charged her with 4 offences, including riotous behaviour and incitement and she was given 6 months imprisonment on each count to run concurrently, to which she naturally appealed.  

      The Civil Rights Association was to now also split into 2 groups, with the moderates in Derry under John Hume's leadership forming the Derry Citizen's Action Committee to try and still use peaceful democratic means to bring about Civil Rights in the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, which were still under the control of the "Official" Unionist Stormont Government. The more militant Civil Rights group was to then form around the People's Democracy Association, based on the younger Queen's University students who were also demanding their equal democratic right to jobs, the right to one man one vote, and the right to housing. Meanwhile, Gerry Fitt the Westminster Independent Labour M.P. was warning anyone who would listen that the 6 Counties in Ulster were on the brink of Civil War.

November 4th: The effect of the R.U.C. police brutality that was blatantly carried out on the Civil Rights marchers for all to see brought a reaction from Harold Wilson the British Labour Prime Minister, who requested the attendance of the "Official" Unionist leaders, Terence O Neill, Brian Faulkner and William Craig in London whom he told to introduce reforms into the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, that were still under their control, immediately. Terence O Neill was ready to resign but Harold Wilson and James Callaghan the British Minister for Home Affairs got him to stay on and he then then came out publicly and stated that housing reform was going to occur, and that the Unionist Derry Corporation was to be suspended and replaced by a Development Commission. There was also going to be an appointment of an Ombudsman, and he was intending to do away with the blatant property owning right of the Company vote for an individual to have up to 6 votes, while the Special Powers Act would be reviewed, which never happened. There was to be an uneasy lull over the following weeks in the 6 Counties in Ulster as everyone waited for some changes to occur.

       The moderates, such as those under John Hume, were pleased that something might soon be done to bring about reform there, and to this end they wanted to give Terence O Neill the "Official" Unionist Prime Minster in the 6 Counties in Ulster Province breathing space, but the others, such as the Queen's University student's group, were not so easily convinced that the road ahead was going to be made any easier. The hard - line Unionists on the other hand were not pleased with any such talk of reform, and the Paisleyites under the leadership of the extremist the Rev. Ian Paisley were angry at even the mention of any rights at all for the Irish Catholic population, as they saw it as giving in to "illegal" protests.

     Meanwhile, the Civil Rights Association stopped their activity to await the introduction of the reforms, and Terence O Neill was receiving no great opposition from his own "Official" Unionist Party who knew now they had to face the inevitable, except for the real hard - liner Unionists led by William Craig who denounced all of the reforms. The Attorney - General also stated that all summonses from October and November issued by the R.U.C. police in the 6 Counties in the Ulster Province were to be adjourned until May 1969 and William Fitz Simmons the "Official" Unionist Minister for Development also resigned from the Orange Order.

     The Rev. Ian Paisley, the hard - line religious extremist, the leader of the Independent Free Presbyterian Church group, was now to be imprisoned for obstructing the Civil Rights march were there had been many injured but no deaths, and it was to lead on to a weekend of rioting then being carried out on the Catholic Irish Bogside region, which was an Irish Nationalist area.

November 8th: A local branch of the Civil Rights Association was also formed in Armagh in Co. Armagh in the south- east of the Ulster Province, another of the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, as they considered Terence O Neill was still offering very little by way of reform, as there was no sign of one man one vote, or any other reforms really occurring by no. They gave notice of their intention to the R.U.C. police to hold a protest march on the 30th November, and the local Orange Order and the Unionists now also wanted it banned, as they had banned an intended march there the previous Easter, but this time they did not interfere.

November 19th: Douglas Hutchinson a local non - Catholic leader who was accompanied by his compatriot, the Rev. Ian Paisley, demanded the R.U.C. police ban the march or else, and warnings were placed in the letter boxes in Armagh in Co. Armagh by the Constitution Defence Committee and their leader Major Ronald Bunting, also an associate of the extremist the Rev. Ian Paisley was determined to hold a march through the Catholic area of Armagh in opposition on the same day.

November 22nd: A 5 Point reform in the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province was still being touted.

November 23rd: There was to be further trouble in Dungannon in Co. Tyrone another of the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, when the People's Democracy Association held a meeting in a Market Square restaurant, where the non - Catholics there tried to break it up using physical force while the R.U.C. police just stood by and did nothing to stop them.

November 30th: 1a.m. The Rev. Ian Paisley, the hard - line fanatic, and his right hand man, Major Ronald Bunting, drove into Armagh in Co. Armagh in the south - east of the Ulster Province and parked their car there and at 8 a.m. the R.U.C. police opened up the road blocks intending to remove arms from anyone coming in, but soon the crowd around the Rev. Ian Paisley was swelling with weapons. By 11a.m. the route the Civil Rights marchers intended to take was blocked by a truck and 1,000 Paisley's followers converged on Market Square in the centre of the Civil Rights course, and the R.U.C. police erected blockades to keep them apart. Meanwhile, outside of Armagh 5,000 Civil Rights marchers had set off on their march, but were stopped at the R.U,.C police blockade, where they then held their meeting until 5 p.m. and then dispersed, while a minor battle was to occur near the Catholic Cathedral in the city centre. The hard - line religious and ethnic extremist Rev. Ian Paisley who had his own agenda from now on was to continue to be on the offensive at all times during the Civil Rights rallies and along with his right hand man, Major Ronald Bunting, he was to be charged with unlawful assembly over this and he was to become even more progressively inflammatory as time went on.  

December 4th: The Civil Right Committee meeting now held at Dungannon in Co. Tyrone in Central Ulster Province was also attacked.

December 9th: Terence O Neill the Prime Minister of the "Official" Unionist Stormont Government in the 6 Counties under his control in the Ulster Province made a speech on T.V. stating that control of the 6 Counties were at the crossroads, and he appealed for the opportunity to bring in reform to stop the violence and disruption. The British Imperial Labour Government was by now subsidizing the 6 Counties artificially partitioned by them from the 9 in the Ulster Province to the tune of 100,000,000 pounds a year, so there could now be no unilateral declaration of independence by those in the Ascendancy who they had originally put in there with total authority.

December 10th: George Forrest an "Official" Unionist M.P. in Central Ulster, died, and this created a vacancy for his previous position in the British Westminster Parliament.

December 11th: Terence O Neill the Prime Minister in the "Official" Unionist Stormont Government now felt that he could safely take on William Craig the "Official" Unionist hardliner, who he now dismissed from the Stormont Government for making unilateral declaration of independence remarks, winning a vote of confidence in doing so from his "Official" Unionist Party and 135,000 signed petitions endorsing his move. The moderates in the Civil Rights Association now felt that Terence O Neill would surely soon bring about some reforms in the 6 Counties in Ulster Province under his control.

December 14th: The Rev. Ian Paisley, the hard - line extremist, who was the leader of the Independent Free Presbyterian Church group, tried to turn the return of the Clyde Valley, a gun running ship, into a drama in the 6 Counties in the Ulster Province, without any success. - The Civil Right's march set down by the People's Democracy Association for this date was called off after Terence O Neill's new measures were announced.

December 18th: The Apprentice Boys at Derry in Co. Derry were to hold one of their ceremonies there without any incident.

December 20th: The People's Democracy Association / Young Socialist Alliance now under Michael Farrell, Loudon Seth and Kevin Boyle announced a Civil Rights march across the north - east of the Ulster Province from Queen's University to begin on January 1st to the 4th from Belfast to the City of Derry, a journey of 75 miles, and Captain William Long now the "Official" Unionist Minister for Home Affairs in the Stormont Parliament tried to talk them out of it. The Derry Citizen's Action Committee said they would meet them at the other end of their journey, while the moderate Civil Rights Association gave monetary support only, and Eddie Mac Ateer the leader of the Irish Nationalist Opposition in the Stormont Parliament was not too happy about it at all.

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