Bloody Sunday!

Post Reply New Topic

On 30 January 1972, 30,000 people marched in Derry to protest internment.

The March was the biggest ever Organized by the Civil Rights Association, made its way toward Guildhall's Square. British Soldiers blocked the route at Williams Street so the people assembled at "Free Derry Corner" in the Bogside Area. Suddenly, Armored cars appeared From Behind Barriers and headed for Rossville Street. British troops effectively boxed in hundreds of people on waste-ground between the flats and William Street. Soldiers spilled out of the armored cars, their helmets identifying them as paratroopers. none of the soldiers carried batons and shields as riot control troops do. all were armed with full combat assualt rifles. they used these rifles as clubs as they went through the crowd.

Without Warning, the clear and mistaken sound of shots from British Army issue SLR's rang out. More shots, and then people were began to fall. the air rang to the sound of rapid gunfire and screams. Casually soldiers fired indiscrimenately, often from the hip, into the fleeing and unarmed crowd. At the end of the day, 13 lay dead and 17 wounded, one of whom died later. One man who was photographed being arrested and taken into a british army saracen was later found shot dead.

Within hours, the british propaganda machine was in full operation claiming that they had shot thirteen "gunmen" and bombers, in an attempt to justify the planned, cold blooded murder of peaceful unarmed civil rights protesters.

The Irish Republican Army was now the last resort of the nationalist people. To Protect them from the combined official and unofficial forces of the 6 county stralet, and then go on the offensive to rid Ireland Once and for all of british interferance and tyranny, the IRA was forced to reorganize from near extinction. With nothin avaliable but a few old and reliable weapons, the ranks of the IRA were nonetheless swelled by a risen people who would no longer wait to be crushed by the british state

The Bloody Sunday Murder Victims

Jack Duddy RIP

Paddy Doherty RIP

Gerard Donaghy RIP

Hugh Gilmour RIP

John Johnston RIP

Michael Kelly RIP

Michael Mcdaid RIP

Kevin McElhinney RIP

Bernard Mcguigan RIP

Gerard MicKinney RIP

William McKinney RIP
William Nash RIP

Jim Wray RIP

John Young RIP

The Wounde

Michael Bradley 22 yrs.

Michael Bridge 25 yrs.

Alan Burke 18 yrs.

Patrick Campbell 53 yrs.

Margaret Deery 37yrs.

Damien Donaghy 15 yrs.

Joseph Friel 20 yrs.

Danial Gillespie 31 yrs.

John Johnston 59 yrs. died a few hours after being shot

Joseph Mahon

Patrick Mcdaid 24 yrs.

Danial Mcgowan 37 yrs.

Alexander Nash 52 yrs.

Patrick O'Donnel 41 yrs

Michael Quinn 17 yrs.

If you had stopped before your last paragraph, you would have had a post worthy of discussion.

Wrongdoing on the part of British Forces should never be forgotten, nor excused. But let us neither forget to put this into the context of an armed conflict that claimed over 3,500 lives--over 2,000 of them by the hands of Republican paramilitary groups, 1,000 by Unionisst paramilitary groups and somewhat less than 400 by British or Irish security forces.

Your feeble attempt to romanticise the IRA as "the last resort of the nationalist people," is not merely offensive, it is also wrong. And history has demonstrated how wrong your notions are. Forty years on, the people of Ulster, or Northern Ireland, or the "6 county statelet" if you prefer, are not crying out to join the republic. They are not storming Stormont or Hillborough Castle.

Does nationalist sentiment still exist? Of course it does. But so, too, does unionist sentiment--and the views of unionists cannot be blithely cast aside. Hence the coexistence that exists under the devolved assembly.

Above all--Northern Ireland is presently at peace. But this is not a peace that is served by renewing calls for disestablishment of the current government by anything other than democratic means.

You may be dwelling on offenses of the past. But the people of Northern Ireland clearly are not.

I agree with visagrunt, You are trying to romanticise the IRA, who were a bunch of murdering bastards, murdering not only innocent English civilians but there own people as well. The IRA were never going to get independence for northern Ireland and I doubt they never intended to, if anything the various waring factions on both sides worked more like protection racketeers, dividing belfast into "economic zones". The bloody actions of the IRA in no way excuse the actions of the British army in the early 70's the whole lot of them disgust me. And as for promoting nationalism, to my mind there has never been a greater cause of death and destruction at human hands and than idiotic patriotism and nationalism.

Bloody Sunday was a really tragic event, most people will agree about that. But, the IRA has done nothing to help the political cause. They are nothing more than thugs. Had you been showing the same support for Al Queda, this thread would be very quickly locked, amidst a cloud of personal insults, aimed at you. There's not a lot of difference in their tactics. You should read some. The 1993 Warrington bombings would be a good start. Two little boys were killed then. I can still recall the anguished parents being interviewed and could still tell you the names of the children. What had they done to deserve that? The scale of their attacks is smaller, but there has been the same tragic endings to many innocent lives.

Last edited by Mummy_of_Peanut on 02 Jun 2012, 1:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

IF you add up the death count clearly the English and British have done more killing they did killing for 800 years. Killing innocnet irishmen women and children. So I feel no shame in supporting the IRA. Also so let me get this striat it's diffrent when it happens to you?

I believe the English formally apologized for Bloody Sunday a couple of years ago.

Regarding the argument that most people in N. Ireland want to be in the UK:
The Catholic people of the North have for decades suffered terrorism and persecution at the hands of their Loyalist neighbors. For that reason, many of them have fled across the border into the Republic. That is a form of ethnic cleansing. Chasing out everyone who disagrees with you and then holding a vote amongst who's left is hardly democratic.

Things like that happen in America too. The Catholics and Proestants don't get along very well Ireland has a history of that. So does America most IRA members are Proestant and non catholic. We disagree politically not religiously though

You really need to calm down about this. The Irish people are not shouting out about being killed over the past 800 years. What is this fighting between the Irish and the British that you're talking about, other than Bloody Sunday and historical fighting? It's not happening now. The British are friends with the Irish, honest. I live in the UK and travel to Ireland frequently - there is no animosity. Most of us Brits are a little or a lot Irish too, including myself. Yes, Bloody Sunday happened and it's tragic and shouldn't have happened. But, NI is getting some peace at last. Calling for the IRA to continue with their campaign is not helpful, especially from across the pond.

I know that when I bring up the British and Irish fighting and I am talking about what is going on in my country. We can't stand each other in America as for the IRA had family members in that group. But it is still fun to debate about at least talk about.

But, talking about terrorist organisations is no joking matter. It's really serious. I totally get what YippySkippy says about the voting being biased in favour of those with loyalist leanings. My personal view is that NI should never have been separate from ROI. I sympathise with the republican standpoint, but would never condone terrorism. Why are the loyalists there? Because of British imperialism, so they shouldn't really be there. However, I would never want them to be thrown out either, because that's their home. It can be contrasted with the Scottish situation. The English didn't 'arrive' and set up homes, like they did in NI. So, when we get our vote on independence, it will be fair.

Ok mods let me get this straight so that I can understand the moderation policy on this site.

Criticising Islam and debating immigration policy gets your thread locked.

Openly supporting terrorist organisations that indiscriminately kill women and children, perfectly fine for WP mods.

That is one seriously f****d up moral compass at work.

^ I have been having that debate with myself, whilst trying to talk sense into the OP. But, you're right. It's locked now.

After much thought, thread is unlocked. Its content is questionable, but it isn't breaking the rules. I will continue to watch.

I do apologize for the thread if it is that big of a deal then I am sorry. But I am not sorry for supporiting the IRA of the past not the terrorists that they are today.

The IRA of the past killed at least one of my relatives (Wiki "Dunmanway Massacre").
They killed each other a lot, too, after the treaty was signed.
On the other hand, most of Ireland is free today because of them.

How would things be different today, if Ireland had remained with the UK?