[41], The paratroopers disembarked and began seizing people. The Saville Report concluded that all of those shot were unarmed and that none were posing a serious threat. Londra richiese al Primo Ministro nordirlandese, il protestante unionista B. Faulkner, i poteri in materia di ordine pubblico e giustizia, ma al rifiuto di questi emanò una norma (detta "direct rule", governo diretto) con la quale scioglieva il governo e il parlamento locali ed agiva direttamente, accrescendo ulteriormente da un lato la tensione e dall'altro i poteri dell'esercito e della polizia. They were then driven to hospital, either in civilian cars or in ambulances. Bloody Sunday occurred on January 30, 1972, in the city of Derry when the parachute regiment of the British army opened fire on a Civil Rights march killing 13 people, another victim died later from his wounds. The Bloody Sunday massacre sparked outrage in Northern Ireland and around the world, heightening tensions between the Catholics, who wanted to join the Republic of Ireland, and the Protestants, who wanted to remain part of the U.K. Trevor McBride/Mirrorpix/Getty Images Witnesses said paratroopers lifted the bodies by the hands and feet and dumped them in the back of their APC, as if they were "pieces of meat". [120] The flags were removed to be replaced by Union Flags. Due inchieste distinte promosse dal Governo del Regno Unito si tennero a distanza di 25 anni una dall'altra, la prima a ridosso dei fatti che assolse l'esercito britannico, la seconda nel 1998, la quale appurò pesanti responsabilità e abusi da parte dei militari del Regno Unito e ne censurò l'operato. [95], The report concluded that an Official IRA sniper fired on British soldiers, albeit that on the balance of evidence his shot was fired after the Army shots that wounded Damien Donaghey and John Johnston. The organisers redirected the march down Rossville Street, intending to hold the rally at Free Derry Corner instead. No soldier said he missed his target and hit someone else by mistake. The soldiers fired rubber bullets, CS gas and water cannon. Growing Catholic anger over internment provided the context for Bloody Sunday. The Inquiry rejected the sniper's account that this shot had been made in reprisal, stating the view that he and another Official IRA member had already been in position, and the shot had probably been fired simply because the opportunity had presented itself. [119] The Ministry of Defence also condemned the flying of the flags. [130], The Irish rock band U2 commemorated the incident in their 1983 protest song "Sunday Bloody Sunday". [83] March organiser and MP Ivan Cooper had been promised beforehand that no armed IRA men would be near the march. I primi, detti unionists, nome in genere usato per indicare i protestanti della classe media, o loyalists, nome usato per indicare i protestanti della working class che diedero vita all'UVF e all'UDA, erano protestanti o di nascita protestante, discendenti dei coloni britannici giunti in Irlanda a partire dal XVI secolo, e costituivano i due terzi della popolazione nordirlandese. [91], The inquiry was expected to report in late 2009 but was delayed until after the general election on 6 May 2010. [132], Willie Doherty, a Derry-born artist, has amassed a large body of work which addresses the troubles in Northern Ireland. Sunday Bloody Sunday è una canzone degli U2, il celebre gruppo irlandese, ideato e composto sul ricordo della strage di Derry. [27] The Saville Report criticised General Ford for choosing the Parachute Regiment for the operation, as it had "a reputation for using excessive physical violence". The protesters planned on marching from Bishop's Field, in the Creggan housing estate, to the Guildhall, in the city centre, where they would hold a rally. [136], 1972 shooting in Derry, Northern Ireland, by British soldiers, The contamination discovered upon victim William Nash was solely discovered upon his right hand, whereas Nash had been left-handed. The day began with an Irish Republican Army operation, organised by Michael Collins, to assassinate the "Cairo Gang" – a group of undercover British intelligence agents working and living in Dublin. Additionally, guns used on the day by the soldiers that could have been evidence in the inquiry were lost by the MoD. "Bloody Sunday victims innocent says Jackson", This "Honeymoon period", as it has come to be known, ended around the time of the. "[94] Saville stated that British paratroopers "lost control", fatally shooting fleeing civilians and those who tried to aid civilians who had been shot by the British soldiers. [77] In 2008 a former aide to British prime minister Tony Blair, Jonathan Powell, described Widgery as a "complete and utter whitewash". on the loyalist side), the Troubles cost the lives of thousands of people. When some protesters threw stones and tried to go around the barbed wire, paratroopers drove them back by firing rubber bullets at close range and making baton charges. Historical events. [118], In January 2013, shortly before the annual Bloody Sunday remembrance march, two Parachute Regiment flags appeared in the loyalist Fountain, and Waterside, Drumahoe areas of Derry. La prima conseguenza della strage fu che nei quartieri cattolici di Derry e di altre città nordirlandesi molte persone vollero unirsi all'IRA tanto che l'organizzazione ebbe dei problemi ad assorbire tutte le reclute. Later identified as a member of the Official IRA, this man was also photographed in the act of drawing his weapon, but was apparently not seen or targeted by the soldiers. [47], The soldiers went through the car park and out the other side. Two people were knocked down by the vehicles. [51], In all, 26 people were shot by the paratroopers;[3][2] 13 died on the day and another died of his injuries four months later. The casualties are listed in the order in which they were killed. The authorities expected that this would lead to rioting. [70] She was temporarily suspended from Parliament as a result.[71]. Nel 2002 il regista Paul Greengrass ne ha tratto un omonimo film. [109] William Craig, then Stormont Home Affairs Minister, suggested that the west bank of Derry should be ceded to the Republic of Ireland. [85] The other judges were John Toohey, a former Justice of the High Court of Australia who had worked on Aboriginal issues (he replaced New Zealander Sir Edward Somers, who retired from the Inquiry in 2000 for personal reasons), and William Hoyt, former Chief Justice of New Brunswick and a member of the Canadian Judicial Council. What happened on Bloody Sunday was both unjustified and unjustifiable. Intelligence officer Colonel Maurice Tugwell and, This page was last edited on 8 April 2021, at 06:22. I secondi, detti nationalists o republicans (secondo le differenze di classe già viste per i protestanti), erano cattolici o di nascita cattolica, discendenti degli antichi irlandesi, ed erano il restante terzo della popolazione ma anche la grande maggioranza sull'intera isola. [42], One group of paratroopers took up position at a low wall about 80 yards (73 m) in front of a rubble barricade that stretched across Rossville Street. With rival paramilitary organisations appearing in both the nationalist/republican and unionist/loyalist communities (such as the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), etc. [2], All of the soldiers responsible insisted that they had shot at, and hit, gunmen or bomb-throwers. [75][page needed] In 2007, General (then Captain) Sir Mike Jackson, adjutant of 1 Para on Bloody Sunday, said: "I have no doubt that innocent people were shot". [21] At least 1,332 rounds were fired at the British Army, who also faced 211 explosions and 180 nail bombs,[21] and who fired 364 rounds in return. They were shooting innocent people. It has been argued that firearms residue on some deceased may have come from contact with the soldiers who themselves moved some of the bodies, or that the presence of lead on the hands of one (James Wray) was easily explained by the fact that his occupation regularly involved the use of lead-based solder. [112], In the following twenty years, the Provisional Irish Republican Army and other smaller republican groups such as the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) stepped up their armed campaigns against the state and those seen as being in service to it. Bloody Sunday (in irlandese Domhnach na Fola, “domenica di sangue”[1]) fu un tragico evento accaduto il 30 gennaio 1972 a Derry, in Irlanda del Nord, quando soldati del 1º battaglione del reggimento paracadutisti dell'esercito britannico spararono contro una folla di manifestanti, colpendone 26 e causando la morte di 14 persone (la quattordicesima morì quattro mesi più tardi per le ferite riportate). Learn more about Bloody Sunday in this article. Support for the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) rose, and there was a surge of recruitment into the organisation, especially locally. [22], On 18 January 1972, Brian Faulkner, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, banned all parades and marches in Northern Ireland until the end of the year. [40], At 4:07 p.m., the paratroopers were ordered to go through the barriers and arrest rioters. [86], Evidence given by Martin McGuinness, a senior member of Sinn Féin and later the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, to the inquiry stated that he was second-in-command of the Provisional IRA Derry Brigade and was present at the march. I primi, detti unionists, nome in genere usato per indicare i protestanti della classe media, o loyalists, nome usato per indicare i protestanti della working class che diedero vita all'UVF e all'UDA, erano protestanti o di nascita protestante, discendenti dei coloni britannici giunti in Irland… Many witnesses intended to boycott the tribunal as they lacked faith in Widgery's impartiality, but were eventually persuaded to take part. Some in the Army also thought there had been undue violence by the paratroopers.[24][25]. The paratroopers badly beat a number of protesters and had to be physically restrained by their own officers. Mural in a Catholic residential area of Derry , Northern Ireland, depicting the victims of the Bloody Sunday incident, 23rd December 1994. Bloody Sunday occurred in Dublin on 21 November 1920 and would mark a turning point for the War of Independence leaving 31 people dead in a single day. This sparked angry demonstrations by local Protestants, and the UDA declared: "Never has Ulster witnessed such licensed sadists and such blatant liars as the 1st Paras. The report concluded, "The firing by soldiers of 1 PARA on Bloody Sunday caused the deaths of 13 people and injury to a similar number, none of whom was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury. Two investigations were held by the British government. The dead were killed in four main areas: the rubble barricade across Rossville Street, the courtyard car park of Rossville Flats (on the north side of the flats), the courtyard car park of Glenfada Park, and the forecourt of Rossville Flats (on the south side of the flats). [66] Anglo-Irish relations hit one of their lowest ebbs with the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Patrick Hillery, going to the United Nations Security Council in New York to demand the involvement of a UN peacekeeping force in the Northern Ireland conflict. It was done as an act of war". I would say without hesitation that it was sheer, unadulterated murder. [5] On 10 August, Bombardier Paul Challenor became the first soldier to be killed by the Provisional IRA in Derry, when he was shot by a sniper on the Creggan estate. Successivamente, nel 1983, il gruppo U2 ha dedicato ai fatti la celebre canzone "Sunday Bloody Sunday", presente nell'album War. The march had been organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA). 30 gennaio 1972, la Bloody Sunday di Derry La domenica di sangue avvenne nel contesto di una manifestazione per i diritti civili organizzata dalla Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association per protestare contro l’incarceramento di alcuni sospetti membri dell’IRA senza alcuna prova a sostegno. Januar 1972 bezeichnet. Bloody Sunday has become synonymous with the darkest period of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. William Craig, then Stormont Home Affairs Minister, suggested that the west bank of Derry should be ceded to the Republic of Ireland. In Harper's book (The Passions of Great Fortune), his comment on the song ends "…there must always be some hope that the children of 'Bloody Sunday', on both sides, can grow into some wisdom". Nel 1970 l'organizzazione clandestina irlandese IRA (Irish Republican Army) aveva cominciato un'intensa azione di guerriglia contro l'esercito britannico e la polizia nordirlandese, la Royal Ulster Constabulary, difensori dello status quo e schierati con gli unionisti. With the Official IRA and Official Sinn Féin having moved away from mainstream Irish republicanism towards Marxism, the Provisional IRA began to win the support of newly radicalised, disaffected young people. But you do not defend the British Army by defending the indefensible. [73], At the end of 1972, Lt Col Wilford, who was directly in charge of the soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday, was awarded the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. I never want to believe anything bad about our country. Per quanto non inverosimile, e quindi non da escludersi a priori, questa teoria non tiene conto delle pesanti ripercussioni effettivamente prodottesi presso l'opinione pubblica già in madrepatria, dove la privazione di alcuni diritti costituzionali provocò ulteriore (e grave) dissenso, anche perché la discussa norma non era stata pubblicizzata come d'ordinario, e di conseguenza molti inglesi non ne erano perciò a conoscenza prima d'allora, il che evocò una prevedibile ondata di simpatia, quasi di vicinanza nel cordoglio, per gli irlandesi. Bloody Sunday, demonstration in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on Sunday, January 30, 1972, by Roman Catholic civil rights supporters that turned violent when British paratroopers opened fire, killing 13 and injuring 14 others (one of the injured later died). [125], Irish poet Thomas Kinsella's 1972 poem Butcher's Dozen is a satirical and angry response to the Widgery Tribunal and the events of Bloody Sunday. [48], About ten minutes had elapsed between the time soldiers drove into the Bogside and the time the last of the civilians was shot. I militari avevano l'ordine di disperdere la folla ma iniziarono a sparare contro i manifestanti in quanto, come da loro riferito successivamente, avevano sentito colpi d’arma da fuoco partire dalla folla, circostanza non suffragata da altre testimonianze.[3]. Major General Robert Ford, then Commander of Land Forces in Northern Ireland, ordered that the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment (1 Para), should travel to Derry to be used to arrest possible rioters. I paracadutisti, comandati dal Colonnello Wilford, avevano ordine di disperdere la manifestazione (non autorizzata) e aprirono il fuoco, sostennero poi, perché fatti segno di colpi d'arma da fuoco. "30 January 1972" deals specifically with the events of Bloody Sunday. In response McGuinness rejected the claims as "fantasy", while Gerry O'Hara, a Sinn Féin councillor in Derry stated that he and not Ward was the Fianna leader at the time. No need to register, buy now! And I have seen for myself the very difficult and dangerous circumstances in which we ask our soldiers to serve. [22] IRA members openly mounted roadblocks in front of the media, and daily clashes took place between nationalist youths and the British Army at a spot known as "aggro corner". Regarding the soldiers in charge on the day of Bloody Sunday, the Saville Inquiry arrived at the following findings: Reporting on the findings of the Saville Inquiry in the House of Commons, the British prime minister David Cameron said: Mr Speaker, I am deeply patriotic. It ended with the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922, which established the Irish Free State as a self-governing dominion and provided Northern Ireland, which had been created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, an option to opt out of the Irish Free State, which it exercised. [49] More than 100 rounds were fired by the soldiers. "[127], The Roy Harper song "All Ireland" from the album Lifemask, written in the days following the incident, is critical of the military but takes a long-term view with regard to a solution. There were people at the barricade and some were throwing stones at the soldiers, but none were near enough to hit them. [19] Both the Official IRA and Provisional IRA had established no-go areas for the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in Derry through the use of barricades. Devlin slapped Reginald Maudling when he made a statement to Parliament that the British Army had fired only in self-defence. [26] The arrest operation was codenamed 'Operation Forecast'. [72] He declared: This Sunday became known as Bloody Sunday and bloody it was. [36] Such clashes between soldiers and youths were common, and observers reported that the rioting was not intense. La campagna dell'IRA contro l'occupazione britannica dell'Irlanda del Nord era in corso già da due anni, e l'eco dell'evento incoraggiò l'arruolamento nell'organizzazione. Tests for traces of explosives on the clothes of eleven of the dead proved negative, while those of the remaining man could not be tested as they had already been washed. [124], The 1972 John Lennon album Some Time in New York City features a song entitled "Sunday Bloody Sunday", inspired by the incident, as well as the song "The Luck of the Irish", which dealt more with the Irish conflict in general. Diarmaid Ferriter: Bloody Sunday 1920 changed British attitudes to Ireland Ardal O’Hanlon on his grandfather’s Bloody Sunday role: ‘He was one of the good guys’ 1920: The War of Independence Il documento - composto da migliaia di pagine - fu fornito al governo inglese a giugno 2010 dopo molti ritardi. At the same time the city was perceived to be deprived of public investment: motorways were not extended to it, a university was opened in the relatively small (Protestant-majority) town of Coleraine rather than Derry and, above all, the city's housing stock was in an appalling[peacock prose] state. [129], Christy Moore's song "Minds Locked Shut" on the album Graffiti Tongue is all about the events of the day, and names the dead civilians. More than 30 people were killed or fatally wounded. Although there were many IRA men—both Official and Provisional—at the protest, it is claimed they were all unarmed, apparently because it was anticipated that the paratroopers would attempt to "draw them out". [121] In the run up to the loyalist marching season in 2013 the flag of the Parachute Regiment appeared alongside other loyalist flags in other parts of Northern Ireland. The single, entitled "Give Ireland Back to the Irish", expressed his views on the matter. It found that all of those shot were unarmed, that none were posing a serious threat, that no bombs were thrown and that soldiers "knowingly put forward false accounts" to justify their firing. Cleared of any wrongdoing as he was under the impression that Wilford would follow orders by arresting rioters and then returning to base, and could not be blamed for Wilford's actions. The inquiry report accepted that Steele could not believe other than that a separation had been achieved between rioters and marchers, because both groups were in different areas. [64] Apart from the soldiers, all eyewitnesses—including marchers, local residents, and British and Irish journalists present—maintain that soldiers fired into an unarmed crowd, or were aiming at fleeing people and those tending the wounded, whereas the soldiers themselves were not fired upon. [18] There was disorder across Northern Ireland following the introduction of internment, with 21 people being killed in three days of rioting. The three boys killed at the rubble barricade were driven to hospital by the paratroopers. It takes place on November 21, 1920, and begins with the assassination of 14 British policemen by the IRA, then commanded by Michael Collins (1890-1922). The play received glowing reviews in all the British broadsheets, including The Times: "The Tricycle's latest recreation of a major inquiry is its most devastating"; The Daily Telegraph: "I can't praise this enthralling production too highly… exceptionally gripping courtroom drama"; and The Independent: "A necessary triumph". Victims' families waited 47 years to see if there would be prosecutions. Altre ipotesi sono state avanzate, cui si attribuisce minor credito, e una vorrebbe che il Bloody Sunday fosse più o meno stato intenzionalmente attuato, per provocare una reazione emotiva generale che potesse giustificare una repressione armata definitiva. The Saville Report agreed that soldiers "used excessive force when arresting people […] as well as seriously assaulting them for no good reason while in their custody". He will also be charged with four attempted murders. Il brano, scritto da Bono, è datato dieci anni dopo il tragico evento. ... A pedestrian walks past a mural commemorating the victims of the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings in the Bogside area of Derry. An diesem Tag wurden in der nordirischen Stadt Derry bei einer Demonstration für Bürgerrechte und gegen die Internment-Politik der britischen Regierung unter Edward Heath 13 Menschen von Soldaten des britischen Parachute Regiment erschossen und 13 weitere angeschossen. [13] Bloody Sunday fuelled Catholic and Irish nationalist hostility towards the British Army and worsened the conflict. After Bloody Sunday in November 1920 it was clear that the conflict we now call the Irish War of Independence would be a long and brutal affair.