Derry: Past and Present

Present day view of the Bogside and Creggan neighborhoods from the city walls…

Derelict houses in Catholic Derry outside the old city

walls…

Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association met with members of the Derry Housing Action Committee

and planned a march for October 5, 1968

The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) formed in 1967 and

demanded…

2. One man, one vote

• Those who paid rates(taxes) were allowed to vote

1. Repeal the Special Powers Act

3. End to gerrymandering electoral districts

4. Anti-discrimination laws

5. Disbanding the RUC

6. Fair allocation of public housing

The first civil rights march in Derry: the beginning of the modern phase of “the

Troubles,” October 5, 1968

Police brutality was captured on film. The official report put the number of

casualties as 4 RUC officers and 77

civilians

The Battle of the Bogside,

August 12-14 1969

A full-scale riot erupted when the Apprentice Boys jeered and taunted Catholics at the Bogside during

their march to commemorate the siege of Derry

Barricades were built to keep the RUC out of Catholic enclaves

Catholics used petrol bombs, rocks and various debris to defend “Free Derry”

Bernadette Devlin:

Youngest female MP ever elected

Imprisoned for resistance in Battle of the Bogside

14 August 1969:British troops deployed in Northern Ireland

British army barricade at the city walls…

“Recreation”: Catholic children regularly pelted British military vehicles with stones

The IRA declared the Bogside a “no go” zone for security forces

The IRA set up checkpoints throughout “Free Derry” as Protestants demanded action from the

British Army

4,000 extra British troops were brought into Northern Ireland to take part in the dismantling of barricades on the boundaries of 'no-

go' areas

Present day Loyalist enclave just outside the Derry city wall …

Entrance to the West Bank loyalist estate from further down the city wall…

Surveillance Surveillance Cameras Cameras

<----Maroon flag of Derry<----Maroon flag of Derry

Notice the red, white and blue curbs…

Loyalists build the bonfire to celebrate the

Siege of Derry in 1689

Apprentice Boys bonfire

Observation barracks overlooking the Bogside due to be removed

Paint Paint BombsBombs

PSNI making an arrestPSNI making an arrest

“Bad”

U2