1972 AD - 1 - January
1972
The
Republic
of Ireland's
population had risen to
3,000,000,
in which the non - Catholic population had decreased by
24 %, which was mainly due to their
intermarriage with the
Catholic Irish there, and the
declining birth rates, rather than by emigration,
and the population in the
6
Counties artificially partitioned from the
9 in the Ulster Province
was now composed of
1,000,000 non - Catholics and
500,000
Irish
Catholics. The
clause in the
Constitution of the
Republic of Ireland,
which gave the
Catholic Church a
"special position," due to
90%
of the population there being
Catholic, was
rescinded to allow for a greater
perspective throughout the whole of Ireland.
By this period in time the Ascendancy "Official" Unionist Stormont Government in these
6 Counties in Ulster,
had managed to intern nearly
600 Irishmen
in their Internment Camps there
using their "Internment without
Trial" legislation, where they were controlled by guards, who had
been especially recruited in
England for higher pay. Because of the
continuing constant arrests that were being carried out under this legislation there was great overcrowding, so
the "Official"
Unionist Stormont Government, and Edward Heath the
Prime Minister of the
British Conservative Government
decided on opening an extra
Internment Camp in these 6 Counties in
Ulster.
Meanwhile, the
Parker Report was released,
into the cruelty being carried out by the
British Military Security forces in these
6 Counties in Ulster,
which was as usual, only a
whitewash, and
Lord Gardiner dissented from it and the
Crompton Report,
stating "The
methods used were secret, illegal and not morally justified." This
was to be a great propaganda victory especially for the
I.R.A.
among the Catholic Irish,
on
whose behalf they had suffered,
and they now began a rent and rates strike also, against "Internment without Trial." A new
Catholic Irish
defence organization,
was also set up in these 6
Counties in Ulster, to be known as the
Catholic Ex - Servicemen's Association,
which put it's energies into getting
Irish
Catholics who were in the Defence
Regiment in these 6 Counties in
Ulster, to resign.
The
N.I.C.R.A. / Civil Rights Association members in these
6 Counties in Ulster,
had been reinspired to action, by the introduction of
"Internment without
Trial," and they also came under the influence of the
Official I.R.A.
through their
Republican Clubs, and they
continued to carry out their protest marches, whenever possible,
endeavouring to bring pressure on the Ascendancy "Official"
Unionist Stormont Government
and the
British Conservative Government to bring in further reform. The
"Official" Unionist Stormont Government had previously banned all marching, and the
Civil Rights members
in these 6 Counties in
Ulster, were now to be
stopped by the
R.U.C. police and charged with
various offences.
January
16th:
In the 6
Counties artificially partitioned from the
9 in the Ulster Province,
still under the control of the British Conservative
Government and the "Official" Unionist Government, the Ascendancy "Official"
Unionist Stormont Government's new
Internment Camp
was set up at
Magilligan Point in
Co. Derry in the north - east or the
Ulster Province, and the "Internment
without Trial" prisoners
were brought in, who were then being kept at
Crumlin Road,
Long Kesh, or on board a prison ship, the
H.M.S. Maidstone,
which was
moored in Belfast
Harbour in Co. Antrim.
January 22nd:
In the 6
Counties artificially partitioned from the
9 in the Ulster Province,
still under the control of the British Conservative
Government and the "Official" Unionist Government,
the N.I. C.R. / Civil Rights Association in these
6 Counties in Ulster,
was now composed of nearly
3,000 anti -
"Internment without Trial" people, including
Ivan Cooper
and
John Hume
the two political S.D.L. P. / Social Democratic Party
M.P.'s, and they were
all mostly from the Derry
area also in Co. Derry, and they all assembled on the
Magilligan Strand, at the approach road to the new Internment Camp. The
British
Military forces brought in their
1st Parachute Regiment known as
the Royal Green Jackets,
especially from Belfast
in Co. Antrim, and
the
marchers
approached 80
of them who were in a group, with another
50 R.U.C.
police stationed behind the barb wire barrier. A crowd of the
anti - Internment marchers decided to
go out into the water to get around the barb wire, and the
British Military Paratroopers
opened fire with gas guns and rubber bullets, and
many of the protestors there were injured. These further
violent actions by the British Military forces made the
Civil Rights
people more determined then ever to persist, especially after other
British
Military forces gassed another group of protestors in
Newcastle in
Co. Down
in the south - east of
Ulster also.
Another
incident along similar lines occurred when a group of people were filling in a crater made by the
British Military forces
on a roadway near
the artificial border, where the British forces also gassed
5 members of the
Republic of
Ireland's
Garda Siochana / Irish
police. This was
then followed by rioting in
Lurgan in Co. Down with
further gas attacks being carried out
against the population there, and the
Civil Rights Association were now determined more then ever to get the
people out on the streets
to
protest with the backing of the Official
I.R.A.
An R.U.C.
policeman was then shot dead in
Belfast in Co. Antrim, and another was
captured by the I.R.A.
at
Warren Point, and then released,
while bombs went off inside the
British Military Paratroopers base at
Hollywood Barracks, and
2 more
R.U.C.
police were killed in
Derry in Co. Derry,
The most extreme
Unionist leaders, then came out
stating that 1972,
was to be the year that they would be making their stand.
January 29th - Saturday:
In the 6
Counties artificially partitioned from the
9 in the Ulster Province,
a Civil
Right's march was planned from
Dungannon to
Coalisland,
which was to follow the same
route as the original Civil Rights Association marchers had previously travelled in
1968, after the housing incidents
at Caledon and this time the
British Imperial Military forces
blocked the town centre.
Bernadette Devlin and nearly
200
people there, who had gathered in a field outside of the town, decided to go
overland instead, traversing through another of the 6
Counties partitioned from the Ulster Province,
in Co. Tyrone for 4
hours. They were followed by the
British Imperial Military forces, who fired gas at
them via long range launchers and
also blocked their progress at every crossing
with their British Military armoured cars.
By the evening, only
Austin Currie,
Bernadette Devlin and
60
others were left in the Civil Rights group, but they eventually made it to the
outskirts of Coalisland
and
settled down in a brick maker's yard, just as the rain and the snow came pelting down.
They were then surrounded by
2 Divisions of
the British Military
forces who had
their rifles pointed directly at them, and they were held there until late in the
night, until they were finally released by the British Imperial Military and allowed to go on
their way, one at a time.
January 30th:
"Bloody
Sunday-
The
Civil
Rights Association was now even more determined to
peacefully march
against the imposition on the population in the 6 Counties
artificially partitioned from the
9 in the Ulster Province,
firstly
of the "Internment
without Trial,"
followed by the terrible
interrogation methods being used
on the Internees, and especially the ban on their Civil Right's marches,
to gain publicity to bring about what should have been further reform of their
normal Civil Rights.
The disgusting horror of this day, that would be carried out by the
British Imperial Conservative Government's
Military forces, would be long
remembered in these
6 Counties in Ireland,
that were still under their control,
and all over the World for generations to come. Thousands
of
Irish
people from all the
different groups effected there in these 6 Counties intended to
come together to rally
peacefully against the continuing abuses by those in
total control of all of their lives, by marching
from Bishop's Field
in
Derry in Co. Derry,
through the
Catholic Irish Bogside area
to the
Old Guild Hall.
The
Rev. Ian
Paisley, the embittered religious fanatic, had once again
condemned the
Civil Rights Association march, and told the Ascendancy
"Official"
Unionist Stormont Government in these 6 Counties in
Ulster, that if they did not
stop the walk, he would be using his
group of Democratic Unionists to do so, and because of this
Brian Faulkner the
Official Unionist
Prime Minister then extended the ban on marches for
another year.
On the other hand, William Craig,
the other hard - line "Official" Unionist leader, was
against the ban, as he believed it
would only reinforce the ranks
of the
I.R.A.
John Taylor, another extreme hard - line
"Official" Unionist,
was
now predicting a
Civil War, and
2
of
the M.P.s from the "Official"
Unionist Party were to be expelled
for not voting with the
"Official" Unionist Stormont
Government, on the extension to the marching ban.
On this fateful day, now known as "Bloody Sunday," the Defence Regiment, in these 6 Counties in Ulster, stopped all vehicles at Templepatrick, nearly 10 miles out of Belfast in Co. Antrim as they were heading west, and carried out internal searches on them, one by one, while the I.R.A. anticipating trouble and immediate searches, (although no police had been game to go into the Catholic Irish Bogside area since the previous July,) removed all their weapons from out of the area. The British Imperial Military forces commander of the 8th Infantry Brigade in Derry in Co. Derry, called for British Imperial Military reinforcements and he was sent the 1st Battalion of the British Parachute Regiment, who were stationed at Holyrood Barracks just out of Belfast in Co. Antrim in north - east of the Ulster Province.
The Civil Rights Association marchers, assembled at Creggan at 2.30 p.m., and headed towards the Catholic Irish Bogside area peacefully, with a truck out in front of their procession, carrying Lord Brockway and Bernadette Devlin, followed by a contingent of 200 young boys and girls, and ahead they could see the British Imperial Military's Green Jackets waiting for them behind their barricades, The truck containing Lord Brockway and Bernadette Devlin, veered off to lead the marchers on a different route to the Free Derry corner, and the main Civil Rights Association marchers followed after them. The 200 youths in the Civil Rights group instead continued on straight ahead towards the British Imperial Military barricades and the R.U.C. police, and the British Imperial Military forces then began firing rubber bullets directly at the youths, and also turned their Mercedes water cannon on to them, followed by gas and their Military armoured cars. The British Military Paratroopers were then everywhere firing live ammunition, and a young boy and an older man who were shot immediately fell down on the ground and never moved again, and all up 13 innocent Irish people were to be killed there in cold blood on this day by sheer bloody murder, carried out by British Imperialism. Another 29 people there were wounded by the 105 recorded shots of live ammunition fired directly at them by the British Military Paratroopers who also then arrested 50 of the other marchers for good measure. Patrick Doherty was shot dead, while he was still crawling on his hands and knees trying to assist a young boy in the middle of the street who had also been shot. Also killed in cold blood, by the British Imperial Military forces were Gerald Donaghy, John Duddy, Hugh Gilmore, Michael Kelly, Michael Mac David, and Kevin Mac Elhinney a 17 year old boy who was at that time crawling towards a doorway for safety, Bernard Mac Guigan was blatantly shot directly in the head in cold blood while he was waving a white handkerchief as he was trying to assist Patrick Doherty. Gerald Mac Kinney was also shot at close range in the ches, by a British Military soldier while he was standing there in front of him with both his hands on his head, William Nash, and James Wray were shot while laying face down after previously being shot in the back and was then shot again at close range by another British Military soldier, as was John Young. (Not one of the British Imperial Paratroopers were injured in any way.) The Coroner, in the City of Derry in Co. Derry, found that all of these cold blooded killings against the peaceful Civil Rights Association marchers that was carried out by the British Military Paratroopers were just "sheer murder." The British Widgery Report carried out by Lord Widgery, for Edward Heath and the British Conservative Government, that was handed down later, was to be nothing but the usual British Government "whitewash." Once again, all of this bloody mayhem carried out by the British Imperial Government raised the profile of the Provisional IRA / Provos / P.I.R.A as the only real protectors of the population in these 6 Counties in Ulster, and they now became the real I.R.A again, as the Irish Catholic population there now had nowhere else to turn.
This terrible Massacre that had
been carried out on this day against the
peaceful Civil Rights Association marchers in these
6
Counties in Ulster, on "Bloody Sunday" by the
British Imperial Military forces, so upset the general
Irish
population in the
Republic of Ireland,
that
Jack Lynch
the Prime Minister
in the Irish Republic declared a day of mourning in Ireland.
20,000 people came out and marched in protest
there, with retaliatory action also
occurring there, when the
British Imperial Government's
Embassy
was burnt in
Dublin, with
Jack Lynch so moved by
it all as to release all of the
I.R.A. prisoners that were being
held in the prison at Dundalk in the
Republic of Ireland.
William Craig,
the hard - line
"Official" Unionist M.P.
in the 6
Counties artificially partitioned from the
9 in the Ulster Province, who had been against the ban
there, now wanted to
secede the
Catholic Irish areas of the
Bogside, Creggan, Newry and
Strabane in these 6 Counties in
Ulster, back to the
Republic of Ireland.
John Hume, from the political S.D.L.P / Social Democratic Labour Party M.P., who was a committed a peace loving Democrat, now also stated, "It was now a United Ireland or nothing," while Bernadette Devlin was so upset, that she physically assaulted Reginald Maudling, the incompetent British Conservative Home Secretary in the British House of Commons. Edward Kennedy in the U.S.A. publicly condemned the killings, and sponsored a resolution calling for, "The end of "Internment without Trial," withdrawal of the British Imperial Military forces, the abolition of the Ascendancy "Official" Unionist Stormont Government, and that an International Peace Keeping Force should to be put into these particular 6 Counties in Ulster. The Labour Party Opposition in the British Westminster Parliament also came out against it.
Later on in the 21st Century, Tony
Blair would be elected as the Labour Prime Minister
of Britain and would instigate a proper inquiry into the
Massacre that
was "Bloody Sunday," which would finally bring out the
actual truth of the British Imperial Government's responsibility, for the blatant
taking of random innocent
Irish lives by the British
Imperial Military forces. Although it would be 38 years later (June 15, 2010)
David Cameron, the then newly -
elected British Conservative Prime Minister, would
also be forced to make a public apology for all of those
innocent
Irish lives that were taken on that particular occasion on "Bloody
Sunday," to their remaining
Irish
relatives who were still under their control in these
particular 6 Counties in
Ulster.
With the continuing reinforced attitude of the British Conservative
Government under Edward Heath that prevailed at that time, the Ascendancy Unionist Defence Association
/
U.D.A. now began a fervent campaign of further violence in these
6
particular
Counties in Ulster, against the Catholic
Irish population there, and a steady rising toll of
murders
were to be carried out there against innocent people, who in no way had any connection with the
I.R.A.