1970 AD - 4 / August to December
August 8th - 11th:
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,
2 R.U.C. policemen, Robert
Miller and Samuel Donaldson were killed by a bomb, when they went to inspect an abandoned car at
Crossmaglen on the Lisarow Road in
Co. Armagh, near the artificial border,
which was a strong Republican area, which had
originally been recommended to be handed back to the Irish Republic
by the British
Government Border Commission.
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, although Robert Porter was the Minster
for Home Affairs, in the Official Unionist Stormont Government, it was
to be
Brian Faulkner, the Ascendancy hard - line Stormont Minister for
Development, who came out once again blaming the IRA for all
of the Troubles. He wanted Jack Lynch the Prime Minister of the
Irish Republic,
to find them for him and hand them over to his Official Unionist Government
to be dealt with. The original deaths of the 2 R.U.C. policemen was
now to grow to become 20, while the population in these
6
Counties in Ulster, were to go from
1 victim a week, to 10
victims
a week, including even the mentally ill and
small children who were also to become fair game.
Meanwhile, many genuine attempts were still being made to bring about
some common sense there, and remove the ethnic and
religious bigotry from the scene altogether, and the ongoing repression in these 6 Counties
in Ulster. The political All Ireland
Democratic Party was now also formed under Major Ronald
Bunting.
Maurice Foley,
a British Labour Party M.P. in the Westminster Parliament, proposed to
John Hume in Co. Derry that all the Opposition Parties in the
6 Counties artificially partitioned from the
9 in the Ulster Province,
should unite and form a real Opposition Party there. Austin
Currie the Irish Nationalist member was all
for it, while John
Hume was having discussions with all of the
other Stormont
Opposition members to try and bring about some positive results to the never
ending
Troubles. At this time, the Opposition in the 6
Counties in Ulster, were represented by the
Labour Party, the
Republican
Labour Party, the Nationalist Party, and
3 Independents, who due to the complete dominance
of the Ascendancy numbers in the Parliament there for nearly
50 years, were all treated with contempt by the Official Unionist Party, who always
had, and still had, total control over the Stormont
Government there. Gerry Fitt, a member in both
the Stormont and the
Westminster Parliaments, was also interested if he could be the chosen leader, and
together with the 3
Stormont M.P.'s connected with N.I.C.R.A / Civil Rights Association, a united Opposition Party was begun.
The Labour Party was
then to kick out
Patrick Devlin from their party, for
associating with them. John Hume and
Austin Currie supported Gerry Fitt as
their leader, and their numbers grew to 7, when they were to form the
Social Democratic Labour Party / S.D.L.P. Patrick Kennedy,
who was a member of the
Republican Labour
Party, also gave it the thumbs down, as he thought it was connected with the British
Labour Party. (He was to eventually get out of politics altogether, and put his efforts into
just representing the Provisional I.R.A. in the north). The S.D.L. Party although it
was also non - sectarian, wanted a
re - united Ireland by peaceful means,
with
consent of the majority, and it was to come to represent the
Irish Catholic working class.
August 21st: 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, the newly formed S.D.L. Party held a news conference, where they put forward a 9 point plan at the Grand Central Hotel, and stated that they stood for co - operation and unity in Ireland, by the consent of the majority of the people. The other newly formed moderate Unionist Alliance Party. which was a middle of the road Party, that was only small at this time, believed that the S.D.L Party would only harden the religious differences. Despite this conclusion at this time, the Catholic Irish were uniting, while the non - Catholic organizations were either drifting apart, (while trying to gain some moderate sensibility in their leadership,) or (moving to the far right to continue to maintain the Ascendancy.) Many moderate Unionists, from now on continued to come forward, with a more common sense approach to fairness and reality, except of course the real hard liners, who were to continue to live in the greater glory of the Ascendancy's past no matter what. (Once again if you want to make anything stronger, oppress it.)
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, William Craig, who was one of the Unionist hard - liners, had previously been ousted from the position of Official Unionist Minister for Home Affairs in the Stormont Government, by James Chichester - Clark, because of his totally intractable approach. They had then put in a Yorkshire man to replace him, who had also not lived up to expectations, and Robert Porter had then held the position ever since, but he too now found it necessary to resign, and 2 years later on was to leave the Official Unionist Party altogether. Major James Dawson Chichester - Clark, took over the position himself, but delegated the mundane parts of the portfolio to John Taylor the Official Unionist hard - liner, while giving him a seat in the Stormont Cabinet, where in this position he was able to prevent a march by the Blackmen of Belfast in Co. Antrim, who were even more awesome then the Orangemen.
September:
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, the
West Unionist Council
under
Harry West
who was previously the Agricultural Minister
in the
Official Unionist Stormont Government,
split off. They were really intractable hard - liners,
and they came out and publicly condemned James
Chichester - Clark their Prime
Minister, giving their support instead to
William Craig the Unionist hard - liner,
who was now sitting on the backbench since his previous dismissal in 1968,
for his extreme views.
October:
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,
the British
Conservative Government's Military forces, who
were based
in the
Shankhill area were getting a hard time from the
young bucks among the non - Catholic youths there also. The youths were carrying out attacks on a small block of
Unity Flats, in which there were
Irish Catholics
still living, and non -
Catholic riots
October 23rd:
All those charged in the previous
Arms Crisis, in the Irish Republic
were
acquitted, and one of these,
Charles Haughey,
then
challenged
Jack Lynch
for the
leadership of the
Fianna Fail Party
there, but was unsuccessful.
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,
Bernadette Devlin
was released from prison after receiving
2
months off for good
behaviour. There was confrontation at
Enniskillen in
Co. Fermanagh
(another of the 6 Counties partitioned in
Ulster)
between the
Civil
Rights marchers and the Stormont Government's R.U.C.
police there, which thankfully this time ended peacefully.
Trouble
also broke out in the Irish
Catholic Ardoyne area again, when the
British Conservative
Government's Military forces commander there, advanced
into the area and came up against the
IRA under the leadership of
Martin Meehan, and
5
nail bombs were
thrown and 6
of the British Imperial Government forces
were wounded.
Cathal Goulding the previous Socialist leader of the Official IRA in Dublin, in the Irish Republic (26 Counties) stated that they too, were now going on the offensive against the British Imperial Government Military forces in the 6 Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the Ulster Province, still under the British Conservative Government and Ascendancy Official Unionist control, but they were against any type of attack on any commercial targets, as these would deprive the workers there, of their jobs. Despite this pronouncement, it was to really be the Provisional IRA / Provos there, that Major General Anthony Farrar - Hockley the British Imperial Military Forces commander there was really worried about. The number of British Imperial Government Military forces now in these 6 Counties in Ulster, was taken up to 7,000 in strength.
November:
In England, Edward Heath the
British
Conservative Prime Minister, believing things had settled
down removed
2
of their Military Battalions from the
6
Counties artificially partitioned from the 9 in the
Ulster Province,
still under their control, and things were to be relatively
calm into the new year, except for a
few disturbances in
Ballymurphy,
where the IRA Provos there
were still
trying not to directly confront the
British Imperial Military Forces.
All up this year, 25
civilians, had met with violent deaths so far in the 6 Counties in Ulster, with no R.U.C. police and no
British Government Military forces, as yet. Despite this lull, things were to get even worse in the future,
in these 6 Counties in Ulster,
still under
the control of the British Conservative Government and
the Ascendancy Official Unionist Stormont
Government.