1969 AD - 5
In the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the
9
in the
Ulster Province by the
British Imperial Government and still under the control of the
Ascendancy Official
Unionist
Stormont
Government on
August 2nd:
There was further serious rioting there in
Belfast in Co. Antrim involving the
R.U.C. police, the Irish Catholics
and the non
- Catholics. The Shankhill Road
area was damaged and the
Irish Catholic block of flats were besieged, and they had to erect
more barricades there also, as
80
people and
17 R.U.C.
police were injured.
August 4th: Sectarian riots occurred once again in Belfast in Co. Antrim in the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, still under the control of the British Imperial Government and the Official Unionist Government.
August 8th: James Chichester - Clark who was now the Official Unionist Stormont Prime Minister in the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, went over to London to discuss the situation again with James Callaghan the British Labour Government's Home Secretary and their Lieutenant General Sir Ian Freeland the British Imperial Military Commander who was briefed to be ready with his contingent of 2,700 British Imperial Military troops.
August 12th:
On this day, thousands of the
Unionist Apprentice Boys Association / Masonic Association
marched
through
Derry in Co.
Derry, one of the 6
Counties partitioned from the 9 in the
Ulster Province, under the control of the
Ascendancy Official Unionist Government, who were once again celebrating the
previous lifting of the
siege on
Derry against James 11 the Catholic
English King nearly 300 years before. They paraded around
the City of Derry
while
taunting the Catholic
Irish in
the Bogside
area, who also retaliated
again with stones and as they carried out their parade through
Waterloo Place adjacent to the River
Foyle further conflict also began between the
Irish Catholics
there and the
non - Catholics there. The
R.U.C. police
then moved in and it just got worse,
as the R.U.C. police
pushed the
Irish Catholics
further down the street towards the
Irish Catholic Bogside area, where the
R.U.C. police forces were to be also constantly re - enforced. Meanwhile, the
Irish Catholics who were further down in the Bogside
area saw them
coming and then major clashes occurred at William and Rossville Streets, and by 5 p.m.
there was fighting at the barricades, and the R.U.C. police then started using teargas and
the whole community, including women and children were to soon become involved.
Also the
non - Catholics
agitators were in behind the R.U.C. police following them along while hurling petrol bombs
and burning the Irish Catholic buildings
there as they went, including their shops, while putting on helmets and shields to join in with the R.U.C.
police
who moved in once again. Rioting soon followed on from this as the barricades the
Irish Catholic defenders had erected were burnt, and more petrol bombs were
then thrown,
which was to culminate in what is now known as the
Battle of the Bogside
that was to last for 2 days. The R.U.C.
police used massive amounts of gas against the
Irish Catholics there, who
were forced to soak their
handkerchiefs in lemon juice, and smear Vaseline over their bodies to protect
themselves from the gas. This use of increased amounts of gas on the
Irish population there was to cause the riots to
then spread to other towns
who were to be also under the same type of onslaught by
the non - Catholic mobs who were as usual egged on by
the Paisleyites.
The
Official Unionist
Ascendancy
Stormont Government
then sent in the
B Special Reserve
police forces
to the
Irish Catholic areas of
Belfast
in Co. Antrim
and Bernadette Devlin was to be among
those who were involved
in organizing the defences their. She
was now sure that this particular all out onslaught on the population in the
6 Counties artificially
partitioned from the 9 in
the Ulster Province would surely see
an
intervention by the
British Imperial Government
in England, who were in fact morally responsible for it all. In
another of the 6 Counties at Armagh
in Co. Armagh the
B Special Reserve police
fired
directly into a crowd
gathered there killing a
Catholic Irish man.
Wednesday saw the present ongoing
Troubles drag on into Thursday, and during the night throughout
Derry in Co. Derry, the non - Catholic
mobs
continued to roam the
city wreaking havoc wherever they could, even to attacking the
Press headquarters at the
City Hotel, and the
R.U.C. police
on this occasion stood by and did nothing to stop them
from going further.
Up to 600 R.U.C.
police were now involved and
the Irish Catholic
leaders in the
Bogside area were calling on the
British Labour Government and the Official Unionist Government and other
Irish Catholic Committees in the
6 Counties artificially
partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster
Province, and also the
Irish Republic to give aid, medical supplies and gas masks, but received
little response. There were also to be demonstrations carried out in
Dublin
by the population there for the
Irish Republic Government to
immediately intervene to stop the violence, and many there in desperation
personally headed north to join in, and there was
also an IRA call to arms with
little result, as they too were relying on the Irish Republic
Government to do something. The end result
to it all was
that
10
people were to be killed there,
including
2
children, with
1,600 people injured
and a further
200
more homes
were
to be
destroyed. After
24
hours of constant fighting the
R.U.C police and the
B Special
police
retired exhausted and the Irish
Catholics in the
Bogside set up "No Go" areas
proclaiming the area as "Free Derry."
James
Dawson Chichester
- Clark the Ascendancy
Official
Unionist Prime Minister in the 6 Counties
partitioned from the Ulster Province,
who would not move to ban the
provocative ethnic and sectarian
Apprentice Boys Association march, now requested the use of further
British Imperial Government Military
troops.
The
British Labour Government
representatives
in England,
James Callaghan their
Home Secretary, and
Denis Healey
their
Secretary of State for Defence,
made it abundantly clear to the Official Unionist
Government that they
first had to
commit all of their R.U.C.
and
B Special
police, who were
by now their most discredited forces, against the
individual mobs again before they would send in any further
British
Imperial Army forces.
August 13th:
The
Irish
Republic
Government now under
Jack Lynch the leader of the
Fianna Fail Party
came out on
T.V.
stating that the Fianna Fail Government could no longer stand by and watch the innocent
Catholic
Irish
people there in the
6 Counties artificially partitioned from the
9 in the
Ulster
Province, suffer their injuries needlessly, and having to fight to
continue on with their lives
there, with no one to protect them.
He moved the
Irish Government
troops to the northern artificial border were they constructed
Field Hospitals
to treat the
people who had been injured in the 6 Counties in
Ulster who were
among those who were fleeing for their lives out of the
Bogside area and
across the artificial border
into the safety of the Irish Republic.
He also created a
Refugee Centre
for
those who were O.K. and able to escape from the ongoing violence, while threatening intervention, but hoping it all
would settle down. Patrick
Hillery the
Irish
Republic
Foreign Minister called for the
United Nations
to intervene in the whole affair, by urging the
Security Council to send in a
Peace Keeping Force and requested direct talks between the Governments of
Britain and
Ireland to stop the violence.
The British
Imperial Government's response to all this continuing
mayhem was to pull out all the stops at the
United Nations to ensure that this
intervention did not
happen and in fact sent more
British Imperial Government troops into the
6 Counties in the Ulster
Province in Ireland.
August
14th: On
the Thursday
evening a
riot also developed in another of the 6 Counties
partitioned from the 9 in the
Ulster Province, in Armagh in
Co. Armagh, with the Irish Catholics up against the R.U.C.
police and the B
Special" police again, where shooting occurred and another
Irish Catholic was killed there.
The Irish Catholic area of the Falls Road, the
Shankhill Road and the Crumlin Road all ran parallel out of
Belfast
in Co. Antrim, and
even further
out was the Ardoyne region, where the Irish
Catholics there were surrounded by the non - Catholics, and the
Irish Catholic families
there were now physically evicted from that area in great and alarming
numbers.
The R.U.C. police in the Falls Road came into conflict,
and further R.U.C. police and B
Special police were brought in as reinforcements in armoured cars, to create the most
devastating battle
yet to occur, while in
the Divas Flats, above this area, there was also conflict between the R.U.C
police in armoured cars and the Irish Catholic population there.
Baton charges were then carried out with riot shields, and this
developed into a hand to hand conflict, as the
population there tried to defend themselves against the onslaught, and fires broke out in the shops as the
R.U.C. police and B Special police were now backed up by the non - Catholic mobs
again in the side
streets. Meanwhile the trouble in the Falls Road was also getting worse, and there were
fires everywhere, and the Irish Catholics were running for cover as live ammunition was
now being used
with the R.U.C. police firing indiscriminately, and soon there was gunfire everywhere.
The unrelenting fighting was to continue on until dawn as the R.U.C. police, the B Special
police and the non -
Catholic mobs
continued with their attack on the homes and the factories in the Catholic Falls Road area.
Eventually 2 of
the R.U.C. police were also shot in Dover street and the R.U.C. police then sprayed
machine gun fire
into the Divas Flats where they killed a 9 year old boy who was hiding under a bed,
while another man was killed on the top of the flats.