FOREWARD

It is now six years since those horrific events in Derry’s Bogside when thirteeninnocent civil rights demonstrators were brutally shot down during an anti-internment demonstration on January 30th 1972. This pamphlet appears at thistime to commemorate the events on that date, which is now known throughoutthe world as ‘Bloody Sunday’. It is dedicated to the memory of all those scoresof Irishmen and women who have died and suffered in the struggle againstimperialism. On this, the Sixth Anniversary of Bloody Sunday, let us rememberthem all.

The pamphlet is in eight parts, and has drawn a great number of sourcestogether to present as far as possible, the events of that date, but also the polit-ical background which led up to that march which ended in a river of blood.The names of those who gave their lives in Derry during the years 1968 to1972, including the Bloody Sunday Martyrs, are given by way of memoriam,in parts 1 & 4. Parts 2 & 3 are the main parts of the pamphlet, and 5 & 6 dealwith comments made by the wounded and eye-witnesses. Part 7, entitled,“There’ll be another Day”, is taken from the front page of the first edition ofthe STARRY PLOUGH, and is believed to have been written by Nell McCaffertya Derry journalist working with THE IRISH TIMES. The final part gives ThomasKinsella’s famous poem, THE BUTCHERS DOZEN, which expresses the angerand disgust of Ireland’s leading poet. This work, with the sub-title “A Lesson forthe Octave of Widgery”, appeared in pamphlet form in late April 1972. Thefront cover of the pamphlet carried the outline of a black coffin with the figureof 13 superimposed. The text is based on the form of the Dunciad and waspublished by the Dolmen Press, Dublin.

The Chairperson,Comhairle Ceanntair,

Derry City I.R.S.P.

Published by the Irish Republican Socialist Party, 34 Upper Gardiner St. Dublin 1. Tel. 721164

3CONTENTS

(1) IN MEMORIAM

(2) THE SUN SHONE

(3) THE SKIES WEPT

(4) THE WOUNDED SPEAK

(5) THE EYE-WITNESS REPORTS

(6) THERE’LL BE ANOTHER DA Y

(7) THE BUTCHER’S DOZEN

“Let it be said of them with pride, they died on their feet and not on their

knees. Let it not be said of us they died in vain.”

-1- Kathleen Thomson

William MC Grenery

Gerry DohertyEamonn Lafferty

Colm Keenan

John Starrs

Manus Deery

Hugh Heron

Seamus BradleyDaniel Hegarty

Michael Quigley

Sammy DevenneyTommy Mc Cool

Joe CoyleTommy Carlin

Bernadette Mc Cool

IN MEMORY Carol Mc CoolDamien Harkin

OF ALL Gerald GormleyWHO DIED IN THE STRUGGLE Seamus Cussack

FROM OCTOBER 5th 1968 Dessie Beattie

TO BLOODY SUNDAYJames CaseyTony Diamond

JANUARY 30th, 1972 James O’HaganJunior Mc Daid

Frank Mc Carron

Charles Mc Cafferty

Michael Mc Ginley

Charles Moore

Bernard Kelly

Annette Mc Gavigan

List republished from the Starry Plough No. 1

Printed in Derry on First Anniversary of Bloody Sunday

4-2-

THE SUN SHONE

January 30th, 1972 in Derry witnessed a premeditatedcivilian demonstrators at the hands of the British Army’s

carnage of peacefulFirst Parachute Reg-

iment. When the imperialist guns fell silent, thirteen marchers lay dead ordying, while seventeen others were seriously wounded. The British media toldthe world that their troopers had been fired upon, yet as the coffin lids werebeing nailed down amid a nation stopped by general strike and in great grief,not one British soldier had been treated for injury received on that date.

The world began to slowly realise that the truth will always out. That something verydifferent from that beamed across the globe by British radio and television transmitters,or the crude versions adopted by their lie machines of Fleet Street, had occured on thathistoric date in the working class areas known as the Bogside. Unlike our dead, the truthcould not be buried under the clay, but, rather, like the blossoms on their graves, burstforth from the soil to expose its reality in the full view of civilised humanity in the fourcorners of the earth.

The British under the guise of an ‘impartial inquiry’ led by a former high ranking imper-ialist army officer, and current Territorial Army officer, Lord Widgery, vainly endeavoredto pluck the flower of truth by all manner of distortion, omission, and calumny. At allcosts the British establishment, and its lackeys within this artificial statelet, conscious ofan international audience, adopted the stance of Pontius Pilate. As with this biblicalfigure, history will condemn in spite of public ablution.

THE BUTCHER’S APRONTHE SUN SHONE that day as over 26,000 peaceful demonstrators marched under thecivil rights banner to protest against the arrests, torture, and imprisonment of suspectedopponents of the the Stormont Junta, without so much as a charge or a trial. This was theonly way that working class people could express their abhorrence of government policy,as the streets became their parliament, and their political desires were expressed in chants,the carrying of placards, or the singing of “WE SHALL OVERCOME” . . . (sic). The powerof the masses, which existed between the kerbstones of our streets, and the ditches ofour country roads, was a force that the British government was determined to crush. Likeon so many other occasions, the British ruling elite could only respond to passive resistanceon the part of a colonialised people by the use of brutal state terror in the form of itsstanding army. On Jan. 30th, 1972, the city of Derry witnessed the latest organised mas-sacre in the long and bloody history of the British Empire, which in previous times com-mitted similar atrocity, in Asia, Africa, the Americas, the sub-continent of India, and manyother lands which were colonised, and over which its Butcher’s Apron once triumphantlyflew.

Before Widgery and the world, two sets of witnesses appeared. On the one hand, the“soldiers” who had performed this dastardly deed, every one contradicting every other“soldier’s” account. On the other hand, civilian witnesses, who told a different story.They were unanimous and quite explicit that the army opened fire without provocation.

BACKGROUNDAny event in history cannot be fully understood unless we seek out the root cause – thechain of events leading up to such happenings. Our blood stained the pavements andbarricades of Free Derry, because of the fact that the minority within this artificial six-county statelet had been denied their basic human rights since the inception of Stormont,which in turn had its roots based in eight hundred years of British military, cultural andeconomic interference in our country. It was but a few years before Bloody Sunday thatthis minority began to demand equality in relation to votes, housing and employment,and had been met by frequent baton charges to drive the protest movement off the streets,the first such charge being in Derry on October 5, 1968. In the months that followedserious rioting broke out all over this artificial statelet, as members of the R.U.C. endeav-

5

oured to invade nationalist ghettoes, as in April and August 1969, with the battles of theBogside, and Falls Road in Belfast. The nationalist communities took on a defensive role,and after the police force was driven back in a state of extreme physical and mentalexhaustion, the British Government sent in its troops . . . . “to aid the civilian authority”,viz; the police and the Stormont junta. Jim Callaghan’s book A HOUSE DIVIDEDreveals that the six-county administration feared that after the defeat of their police forceon the streets of Derry, the nationalist people would come out of their ghettoes andtake over the city. This was how he endeavoured to ‘justify’ sending in the troops.

INTERNMENTSPORADIC RIOTING continued, but by the early summer of 1971, the British werecontent at the ‘progress’ being made. The R.U.C. were once again patrolling almost allareas on foot, and the army was little in evidence. By the beginning of July however anumber of incidents had changed the local political scene very dramatically. The youthwere now again on the streets resisting the powers-that-be, and a formerly quiescentI.R.A. were now in open armed conflict, and steadily growing numerically and in pol-itical influence. The prime reason for this new upsurge of militance within the nation-alist community was the unwarranted murders of Seamus Cussack and Desmond Beattie

6 on July 8th in Derry by the forces of occupation. Such was the abhorrence of theworking-class communities at large that even the tame collaborators within the middleclass Social Democratic and Labour Party (S.D.L.P.) were forced by massive popularopinion to withdraw from the sham that was Stormont. If they had remained at thisjuncture, while still being able to attract Catholic middle-lass support, their politicaldemise would have been certain as grass root support in the working class areas wouldhave vanished. Total rejection of the party would have been the verdict of the risencommunities, which would have realised that their slavish clinging to power was for purelyfiscal considerations. By August 1971 the Stormont junta yet again reverted to its age-old arsenal with the view to introducing its most repressive of weapons, so often used inthe past with varying degrees of ‘success’, i.e. internment without charge or trial. It hadbeen used in the Twenties, in the Thirties, in the Forties, in the Fifties, and was onceagain to be used in the Seventies, rather, as in the past than concede the basic demandsof the nationalist community. Unlike other more subtle regimes, Stormont had not learntthat old methods used in former days do not always have the same result, in new andchanging situations. That a previously proven deterrent can in a different situation becomea political catalyst for opponents, which can in turn produce a cataclysm, (thereby havinga boomerang effect. )

“NO RENT HERE”On the morning of August 9th, 1971, at approximately 4.30 a.m., young men from allover British-occupied Ireland were kidnapped from their beds by armed men, taken awayand held as hostages, without a charge or trial. The then Prime Minister of this artificialstatelet, Brian Faulkner (now deceased) declared a ban on all public demonstrations for

a period of 12 months, in the hope that mass agitation could be successfully curtailed.The introduction of internment had a unifying effect on the nationalist community, andserious disorders marked the occasion, with his ban on marches being defied even in themiddle of the night-time hours. The first few weeks after August 9th showed that, ratherthan end political violence, it actually exacerbated the situation, with 35 people havingdied as a result. A widespread rent and rates strike followed, which had the support of40,000 households. Placards to this effect appeared in windows all over the occupied area –as well as the more contemptuously militant slogan — Rent Spent. By October the effect-iveness of the strike became apparent. In Newry 95% solidarity, with its Urban Councillosing £150,000 in ten weeks. In Lurgan 4,000 were refusing to pay £10,000 a week washeld back. In Derry, the Creggan with 15,000 people had 98% strike success; the 8ogsideand Brandywell had 90%. Coalisland 95%. Anderstontown Belfast had 80% refusing topay. Soon gas and electricity bills, car tax, ground rent, TV Iicences and fines to courtswere added. Local Government virtually ground to a halt.

THE NORTHERN IRELAND CIVIL RIGHTS ASSOCIATION (N.I.C.R.A.) howeverrefused to take to the streets. Their logic was simple – you couldn’t march because it wasillegal and they might put you in jail if you did! Other bodies like the Civil ResistanceCommittees, and the Northern Resistance Movement began to grow out of the resentmentand frustration which grew. Finally in December, with the full support of the internees inLong Kesh, a group of trade unionists in Tyrone, in co-operation with Belfast and Armaghmilitants including Peoples’ Democracy, called a march for Christmas Day. It assembled atBeechmount in Belfast, and despite atrocious weather moved off in the snow for theconcentration camp some ten miles away, a total of 4,000 participating. The BritishArmy’s attempts to stop it failed. The march was a great success. The law had been floutedand the floodgates were opened. NICRA shamefacedly had to call their own march –straight up the Falls to the heart of the ghetto. But the marching season was on. Marches atMagilligan concentration camp, protests at Long Kesh concentration camp, and finally themarch in Derry on ‘Bloody Sunday’.

CENSORSHIP FAILSWithin days of the internment swoops, stories began to come out of the concentrationcamps indicating that severe tortures had been used against numerous internees. As timeprogressed the full extent of such was fully realised and confirmed. By mid-October theBritish papers, particularly THE SUNDAY TIMES, had taken up the story and reportedof “third degree tortures and interrogation”. The majority of the British media ignoredthe allegations, and like an ostrich when being pursued, buried its head in the sand. THESUNDAY TIMES had however, only published something which had been known in Irelandfor two months previously. In fact the Association for Legal Justice had collected anddistributed statements to the press as far back as August 20. In the first week of Septemberthe British press was circulated with a ten page dossier compiled by the London-basedAnti-internment League, but the British public only got a glimpse of what was happeningsome five weeks later. This was due to a number of factors, but in the main journalists

1st Paras on the beach outside Magilligan Camp6 January ’72. Protesters beaten and kickedwhile lying injured on the beach. Rubberbullets also fired from close range.

adopted a policy of self-censorship. What they did not believe, they did not write about.The most outstanding journalists of this period were: The staff of PRIVATE EYE:Jonathan Dimbleby of the BBC’s ‘World at One’ programme who declared “It’s got to thestage where we’re being repressed.”Roy Bull of THE SCOTSMAN who framed a declarationfor the FREE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP which read: “We deplore the intensificationof censorship on TV, radio and the press coverage of events in N. Ireland and pledge our-selves to oppose it”; and Keith Kyle who attacked those who claimed censorship was “inthe national interest” by retorting, There is no higher national interest than avoiding self-deception on Northern Ireland.

This was the background to the protests which occured between August 9th, 1971 andJanuary 30th 1972. The reasons for the marches etc., were not merely to protest againstinternment, but to expose to the world the terrible and foul tortures endured by the help-less internees. The attitude of the British media was a factor that made many thinkingpeople within the expanding protest movements realise that the facts associated with intern-ment could only be conveyed to the world via mass street agitation. In this way it washoped to not only smash internment but to make censorship itself prove worthless. In thisway, the world beyond our shores slowly began to realise what was happening in this,John Bull’s backyard.

It is indeed fitting, that now on the 6th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday, we shouldrefresh our memories on the reason why so many Irish men, women and young people tookto the streets. The following is one case of torture, which is by no means exceptional, asothers taken in the first round-ups suffered similarly. The case appeared as a report in thepublication, SOCIALIST VOICE, being written by Londoners Sean Hallahan and ChrisDoIan. Under the heading, “STRASBOURG HORROR TALE OF ARMY TERROR INULSTER”, it begins: “The case of the Hooded Men of Strasbourg is not some rediscoveredmanuscript by Arthur Conan Doyle or the title of a new film by Hammer. There is plentyof horror in the story but it is all too real, owing nothing to the spacial effects dapartmentof any film company. The hooded men are a group of Irishmen who were lifted by theBritish Army on August 9th, 1971 and subjected to systematic torture by the forces of“law and order’. Their cases are currently being discussed at the European Court in Stras-bourg and it is the British Government that is on trial.

EIGHT DAYS OF TORTURE“This is the story of what happened to one of those man, Mick Montgomery of Derry, whowas active in the civil rights movement and later became the first republican councillor forDerry City. He is a member of the IRSP. On August 9, 1971, Mick was dragged from his bedby British soldiers and thrown into a Saracen armoured car while his wife and children wereleft crying helplessly. Mick was driven to nearby army barracks where he recognisedmembers of the Royal Ulster ConstabuIary Special Branch. He was taken from there byfurniture van to Magilligan camp (later to be an internment centre) and left, with otherswho had been Iifted to stand two hours in the rain. His request to see a solicitor was refused.He was questioned twice in six hours and refused to answer questions other than his nameand address.

‘WHITE NOISE’A hood was then placed over his head by members of the RUC and he was put into ahelicopter which rose from the ground several feet. Mick was then thrown out! He wasreturned to the ‘copter and flown to another place and told to lean against the wall on hisfingertips. After examination by a British Army doctor he was placed in a room wherethere was a continual noise Iike that of escaping steam. He was told to lie on the groundand his legs were forced apart until it felt “like my back passage was splitting”. He passedout. He awoke and his testicles were massaged with the sole of a rubber boot until theywere swollen. Mick was again forced to stand against a wall resting on his fingertips. Atsome time a tube was inserted in his anus and he passed out again.

9

HOODED“His requests for water were granted – but instead of being allowed to drink it the securitythrew it over the hood – making breathing even more difficult. Another factor that madebreathing difficulty was that while being beaten Mick had vomited and the vomit accum-ulated inside the hood. During much of this period no words were spoken by the torturersand Mick had the idea that this was to confuse, whether he was being tortured by the RUCor the British Army? By this time he had lost all track of time. At certain periods he wastaken for interrogation and asked about the IRA and left wing groups. At one point heheard the click of a revolver and was told that his wife and children had been shot. Duringsome of the time Mick was hallucinating. At intervals he was allowed to sleep and was‘fed’ when bread was forced down his throat. He was told he was in the Channel Isles andone day that he was going home. Ha was taken by helicopter (after being shaved and deod-orised) not home but to Belfast’s Crumlin Road Jail. In jail he was examined by a doctorand Mick asked him what day it was. The doctor replied that it was a Tuesday and Mick hadexpressed disbelief. August 9 was a Monday and Mick knew he had bean held for more than24 hours. He had – it was the Tuesday of the following week and the ordeal had taken overeight days!”.

It was factual reports such as this which drove the nationalist population onto the streetsto cry out for justice. Few would have believed, if told, that only two days earlier inLondon moves were afoot to impose the death penalty, without trial, upon all those whodared to march against repression through their own city streets.

10 -3-THE SKIES WEPT

On January 28th, a special meeting of the British Cabinet’s Defence and Overseas Com-mittee attracted the top brass of the British Ruling-elite, including William Whitelaw, aswell as other Cabinet Ministers. Such an august gathering of British establishment figureswere hardly discussing a mere snatch squad arrest operation, and it would seem clear thattwo major factors were on their minds. 1) How best to maintain Brian Faulkner in powerand preserve the puppet parliament at Stormont; and 2) How best to bring to an end theFree Derry no-go area which for more than a year held out the British occupation forcesand their lackeys since internment, which was a continuing insult to establishment ideas of‘good order’. No doubt, listening to the advocates of Kitson, on item 2 it was hoped thatthey could separate the fish (the IRA) from the water in which it swam (the people), andthereby draw the Iiberation forces out into the open to defend the people and maintain theliberated zone known throughout the world as Free Derry or Bogside. Some commentsmade at the time, particularly those of none other than Lard Balneil, give a great deal ofcredit to this theory. It may take many more years for the full story to see the light of day,but one thing is sure, on all three points the British did not succeed, for not only didFaulkner fall but his puppet parliament as well; the IRA was not so foolish to oblige theCabinet and its generals by coming out openly on the streets in the fashion the latter des-ired, and the events of Bloody Sunday merely hardened the resistance of the people againstBritish imperialism in Ireland.

In retrospect it is easy to pin-point some ominous signs which appeared prior to Jan30th. A meeting organised by Ian Kyle Paisley was suddenly called off, and this wascoupled with a warning for ‘all Loyalists’ to steer clear of the city centre. On Tuesday,Jan 25, the GUARDIAN, in a front page headline, gave a clue as to what type of uniformedthugs would be in Derry on the following Sunday. It reads “CO’S WANT PARAS RES-TRAINED” and was written by Simon Hoggart in Belfast. Continuing Hoggart’s report;“At least two British army units in Belfast made informal requests to brigade headquartersfor the Parachute Regiment to be kept out of their areas. SENIOR officers in these unitsregard the paratroop’s tactics as too rough and on occasions, brutal. One officer in atroubled area, whose commanding officer made such a request, said: “The Paras undid in10 minutes community relations which it has taken us four weeks to build up”. News of therequests, which to say the least is extraordinary within the British Army, came after theParachute Regiment had completed its own investigations of the weekend’s events atMagilligan internment camp, when reporters saw paratroopers club demonstrators andfire rubber bullets at point blank range. Since the requests were made paratroopers have notbeen used in these sensitive areas of Belfast which are thought to be beginning to calmdown. This is because the army believes the absolute minimum of force must be used toprevent the local community from becoming more disaffected with the army . . . . .Undoubtedly the regiment is the one most hated by Catholics in troubled areas, where ithas, among local people at least, a reputation for brutality . . . . . . . a captain in one reg-iment whose CO has not made a request said: ‘They are frankly disliked by many officershere, who regard some of their men as Iittle more than thugs in uniform. I have seen themarrive on the scene, thump up a few people who might be doing nothing more than shoutingend jeering . . . . they seem to think that they can get away with whatever they Iike. . . . ‘

So spoke a Brit captain, but his last sentence was certainly proven correct, insofar asnone of the Bloody Sunday murderers ever faced trial, and their Commanding Officer,Col. Derek Wilford was decorated by the English Queen for “outstanding service to theCrown’, less than twelve months later.

● Some take cover, others lay dead and dying.

11

12

● Blood pours from a victim.

THE MARCH & SLAUGHTERIT WAS A RARE DAY OF SUNSHINE, as the crowd, numbering several thousands, withwomen and children among them, gathered in Creggan. A jovial “Fair Day” atmosphereprevailed as the marchers moved in disarray through Bogside toward William Street and theGuildhall. The march had started off from the Bishop’s Field, a determined but still good-humoured demonstration of the deep-seated abhorrence of internment without trial. TheStormont Government’s ban on parades was shattered as the parade moved over a three-mile route that took the crowd, growing in numbers as it went along until over 27,000people were involved, down Southway into Lone Moor Rd., down Stanley’s Walk, alongLecky Rd., back up Westland St. and along. Laburnam Tce., and Marlborough Tce. anddown Creggan Street into William Street. Civil Rights Association banners were carriedby the marchers and the younger participants bore cards with the names of the Derryinternees.

STONES AND BOTTLESAS THE PARADE reached the William St. – Rossville St. junction the lorry carrying CivilRights officials turned into Rossville St., but the crowd continued on down William St.until it came up against an army barricade at the old City Cinema site. Stones, bottlesand pieces of wood were thrown at the troops but the confrontation never reachedserious proportions. It was, in fact, a minor incident compared with some of the confront-ations between troops and rioters that the city has known. A girl steward was led awaybleeding from a head wound after being hit by a stone. An army cannon then movedup to the barricade and sprayed the domonstrators with purple dye. The crowd scatteredinto Chamberlain St. and other entrances to the Bogside. The majority of the marchershad by now moved to Free Derry corner. The paras, supported by Saracens, moved intoRossville St. on what, according to an army spokesman later, was an arrest and searchoperation. The Saracens roared into the car park at the high flats as the stragglers in thecrowd fled in various directions.

SCREAMING AND CONFUSIONMeanwhile at Free Derry Corner, attempts were being made to get the anti-internmentmeeting, earlier scheduled for Guildhall Square, under way. The meeting was just aboutto commence, with Lord Fenner Brockway, M.P., and other speakers on the platform,when the whine of bullets was heard. Over the Bogside the C. S. gas was drifting, amidthe thud of rubber bullets, salvoes of them. This sound was broken by the sharper cracksof live rounds, whining viciously on their death and injury-dealing way. The immediatereaction of the people at the meeting was to dive full-length on the ground, as above theplatform party a number of rounds hit the wall at Free Derry Corner directly over theirheads. For minutes the fire continued amid screaming and great confusion. Then came ablessed lull. People got to their feet and made for St. Columb’s Wells. But again within afew seconds people hit the ground as more bullets whined about. Eventually, many bentdouble, got into the comparative safety of the Wells.

BRITISH SNIPER FIREFurther down the street, at the rosville Flats, Glenfada Park, and at the rubble barricadeopposite the entrance to the high flats, and other open spaces, people were being hit byBritish sniper fire using high velocity weapons. To the crowd at Free Derry Corner, thestark, stunning realisation of what had really happened began to sink in. Four men cameinto the Wells carrying another man, wounded in the back as he ran for cover, his face greyand grimacing with the pain. He was put into a car and rushed immediately to the hospital.Then more wounded were carried in. Immediately cars appeared to take them away forhospital attention. Some five wounded were taken away in the space of a few minutes.Other cars came racing along into the Wells, none of them stopping, as they made theirway to hospital. Some were already dead before they reached the hospital.

But the full horror of the day’s tragic events was happening in the neighborhood ofthe high flats. As the Saracens and soldiers stormed into the area, – shooting, eye-witnesses said, as they came, – the crowd scattered in all directions. It was then, aspeople sought shelter, that most of the killings took place. Priests and members of theKnights of Malta (first aid organisation) moved about the area attending to the woundedand administering the Last Rites while bullets whined around them. Sporadic firingcontinued to echo around the courtyards as the injured were lifted into cars and ambul-ances. In Rossville Street several bodies lay covered with blankets as Father Edward Daly(now Bishop of Derry) waving his handkerchief in the air, led stretcher-bearers across the

SILENT SHUTTERED DERRYWithin hours of the butchery, a silent, shuttered Derry mourned its dead. Factories, shops,stores, banks and offices all closed down, as likewise in other parts of Ireland, as a nationparticipated in mute but eloquent protest. Thinner than usual traffic oved down streetspeopled only at occasional corners by heavily-armed, jumpily alert British soldiers. Itseemed that almost the whole population had voluntarily vacated the open air to grieve inprivate yet community sorrow. But underneath the calm exterior, resentment, anger,revulsion and shock still blended in a population stunned by the enormity of the city’sdisaster. Beneath and behind it all there was a determination that the British army ofoccupation had long outstayed its ‘welcome’ and that 40,000 nationalists were determinedto work for the speedy removal of the troops from the streets of Derry’s west bank, andeventually from the whole of Ireland.

● Wounded man is removed by stretcher bearers.

UNITED IN GRIEFOn the day of the funerals, Wednesday February 2, Ireland was united in grief. St. Mary’sChurch in the Creggan estate was the centre of world attention for the Poignant hour,while Derry buried its murdered dead. Church and state, people, priests and politicians,joined in a unique ceremony which expressed the emotion of a sorrowing nation. Fromnorth and south, from east and west they came, the mourning thousands, to honour thedead, to comfort the bereaved, to pledge by their living presence a humane response toanother horrible tragedy in Ireland’s long history of imperialist conquest. There were fewdry eyes among the congregation. Outside the thronging thousands ignored the bittercold, and in the driving rain it seemed that even the skies wept, and the heavens couldnot hold back their tears.

MICHAEL KELLY (17) an apprentice electrician employedresided at 9 Dunmore Gardens.

I N M E M O R I A M

BLOODY SUNDAY

JANUARY 30th 1972

at Maydown. He

JOHN YOUNG (17), who resided at Westway. He was a salesman and was theyoungest of a family of six.

PATRICK DOHERTY (30), Hamilton Street, who for six years before he diedwas engaged in construction work at Du Pont.

HUGH GILMOUR (17), who resided at Garvan Place.

WILLIAM NASH (19), Dunree Gardens. A dock worker.

JAMES JOSEPH WRAY (23), Drumcliff Ave., who worked at Lec Refrigerators.

WILLIAM McKINNEY (27), of 62 Westway. He was the eldest of a family often. A printer employed by the Derry Journal newspaper.

KEVIN Mc ELHINNEY (17), a grocery assistant of 44 Phillip St. He was one ofa family of five.

BERNARD McGUIGAN (41), 20 Iniscarn Crescent. An ex-foreman in the B.S.R.he was the father of six.

GERALD McKINNEY, Knockdarra House, Waterside, was the father of eightchildren, the youngest a baby boy, born on 7th February, 1972.

GERALD DONAGHEY (17), Meenan Square. He was the youngest to die thatday.

MICHAEL McDAID (21), a barman who lived in Tyrconnell Street.

JACK DUDDY (17), Central Drive, was a weaver in Thomas French’s factory atSpringtown. He was one of a family of fifteen.

JOHN JOHNSON, of Marlborough Street, who died on June 16th 1972. He wasthe first man to be shot on Bloody Sunday.

“Life springs from death; and from the graves of patriot men and women springliving nations”.

-4-THE WOUNDED SPEAK

TWO DAYS AFTER the murder of thirteen innocent civil rights demonstrators, eight of thewounded, all Derrymen, spoke to the world from their hospital beds. All eight unanimouslydenied a British Army claim that two of the men in the hospital had admitted that they werecarrying arms on Sunday. Mr. Alexander Nash, aged 52, of 38 Dunree Gardens who saw hisson William shot dead, told how he himself got his arm and body wound. He said-”I sawthe troops throw three bodies into a Saracen like pigs. I went to where my son was lying onthe ground and raised my arm. I was shot as I moved across.”

Mr. Joseph Friel, aged 20 of Donagh Place, said he was in Meenan Park. ''While lying there lwas told that 13 people were dead and I cried. I thought at first I was hit by a rubberbullet. I think my life was saved by the bullet deflecting from a zip fastener. After I wasshot I was taken into a house. I never lost consciousness, but I thought I was going to die.The army shot indiscriminately. I suppose I will lose my job for talking to the Press becauseI work for the Queen in the Tax Office, but after what happened in Derry I don’t care. Iwant the truth to be known”. Mr. Friel was shot in the chest.

Mr. Michael Bridge, aged 25, of 10 Temore Gardens, said he was at the back of Rossville St.flats. When he heard shots he and other men rushed out to see what was happening. Troopsware shouting. A priest was kneeling over a man who had been shot, “As I went forwardtroops fired several shots. I think they were trying to shoot the priest, who I think wasFr. Daly”. he said.

Mr. Patrick Campbell, aged 53, of 4 Carrickreagh Gardens, who was shot in the back, said hewas shot while running away in Rossville St. The soldiers were firing indiscriminately.

Mr. Michaal Bradley, aged 22, of Rinmore Drive, who was shot in the back said: “It was justlike an ambush. Troops were firing all around”. Mr. Bradley said that he did not see anyonefiring at the troops. He admitted that the threw stones at the troops in William St. after thetroops opened fire.

Mr. Patrick O’Donnell, aged 40, a foreman asphalt spreader, of 10 Rathowen Drive, said hewas shot when he went to the aid of a woman he thought a soldier was aiming at. He triedto pull the woman down, and fell himself, in the hope that the would be safe be he felt apain and knew he had been shot in the shoulder. Mr. O’Donnell said that he was subseq-uently manhandled by troops and he showed two cuts on his head received when he wasbatoned. The troops took him into William St. from Rossville St., but there an officer said:“Leave the man alone. He is hurt.” The officer told the soldiers to Iet him go, and afterbeing taken home in a taxi he was subsequently taken to Altnagelvin Hospital by his owndoctor. He saw nobody shooting at soldiers.

17

18Mr. Patrick McDaid aged 24, Dunaff Gardens, said he heard everyone shouting “the soldiersare coming”. He saw a couple of young fellows coming round the corner carrying a woman.Then he heard people shout, “They are shooting everyone”. “I ran too, and at the corner ofRoasville St. I bent down to dive low. As I did something hit me in the shoulder and back. IfI hadn’t bent down I would have been hit in the head.” he said.

The names of others wounded on Bloody Sunday were released by Altnagelvin Hospital onJan. 31. These included, Mr. Joseph Mahon, aged 16, Rathkeale Way, whose condition wasstated to be ill; Alana Burke aged 19, of Bishop Street, satisfactory; Mrs. Margaret Deery,aged thirty-seven, Swilly Gardens, satisfactory;

A list of the injured appeared in a shop window in the Bogside. Other names included onthis list were – Mr. M. Quinn, Marlborough St.; Mr. J. Johnson (who later died of hiswounds) Marlborough St.; Mr. Campbell, Carrickreagh Gardens; Mr. O’Donnell, RathowenPark; Mr. McKeown, Lone Moor Road: Mr. D. Donaghy, Rinmore Drive; Mr. McQuaid,address not known; Ann Rickmond of Swilly Gardens.

-5-EYE-WITNESS REPORTS

Rev. E. Daly, C.C. St. Eugene’s Cathedral.

“The British Army should hang its head in shame after today’s disgusting violence. Theyshot indiscriminately and everywhere around them without any provocation. It appeared asthough the paratroopers were under orders to move in and shoot away at anyone. A 16 yearold boy was shot beside me, and others were badly injured by the firing. I crawled to himand gave him the Last Rites for there was no hope of saving his life. The quicker the BritishArmy get out of the 6 Counties after todays violance, the better for everyone concerned.It is the only to achieve peace. There has been a terrible amount of blood, and no publicrelations job by the British Army will cover this up. I intend to protest to the highest peoplein the strongest way possible”.

Mr. Eddie Mc Ateer, President of the Irish Nationalist Party.“I saw the first two people shot, a teenager and an elderly man, both falling in WilliamStreet. It was a simple massacre. There ware no petrol bombs, no guns, no snipers, no justif-ication whatever for this well-organised slaughter. Derry’s Bloody Sunday will be remem-bered as the British Army’s greatest day of shame”.

Mr. Michael Canavan, Chairperson, Citizens’ Central Committee.

“It was a massacre. The troops opened fire as Miss Devlin picked up the microphone toaddress the huge crowd at Free Derry Corner”.

Miss Bernadette Devlin, Former Westminster M.P.“Let nobody say the British Army fired in retaliation.”

Finbarr O’Kane, Civil Rights leader.“’ Lord Brockway was on the platform waiting to address the crowd, when a bullet hit a wallnearby. People didn’t realise what it was at first, but more shooting started and everybodyhit the ground. The shooting seemed to stop after a bit and everyone got up on all fours andstarted to crawl away. But it started again. I’ve never seen anything like it. Everybody wastrying to crawl away, hitting walls and stumbling.”

Signor Fulvio Grimaldi, Italian Journalist"There hadn’t been one shot fired at them. There hadn’t bean one petrol bomb thrown atthem. There hadn’t been one nail bomb thrown at them. They just jumped out, and withunbelievable murderous fury, shot into the fleeing crowd. I have travelled in many coun-tries. I have seen many civil wars and revolutions and wars. I have never seen such a cold-blooded murder, organised disciplined murder, Planned murder. I saw a young fellow whohad been wounded, crouching against the wall. He was shouting, “Don’t shoot, don’tshoot”. A paratrooper approached him and shot him from about one yard. I saw a young

19boy of 15 protecting his girl-friend against a wall and then proceeding to try and rescue herby going out with a hankerchief and with the other hand on his hat. A paratrooperapproached, shot him from about one yard into the stomach, and shot the girl into the arm.I saw a priest approaching a fallen boy in the middle of the square, trying to help him, givehim the Last Rites perhaps, – I saw a paratrooper kneel down and take aim at him andshoot at him, and the priest just got away by laying flat on his belly. I saw a French col-league of mine, who shouting “Press, Press” and raising high his arms, went into the middleto give help to a fallen person. I saw the paras again kneeling down and aiming at him, andits only by a fantastic acrobatic jump that he got away.

I myself got shot at five times. I was certain at one stage of being hit as I was takingphotos through a window. I approached the window to get some pictures of what was happening, and five shots immediately want through the glass. I don’t know how they missed.

The mood of the people while this was going on? It was panic, it was sheer despair, itwas frustration. I saw people crying, old men crying, young boys, who had lost their friendsonly a short while before. Crying and not understanding. There was astonishment. Therewas bewilderment, there was rage and frustration. It was unbelievable . . . .

-6-THERE’LL BE ANOTHER DAY

Bloody Sunday was carried out with oneobjective. The British Army decidedcoldly and deliberataly to shoot the risenpeople off the streets. We were shot withour backs turned, in some cases, withour hands in the air as we went to rescuethe wounded. We were killed on thebarricades, in the courtyards . . . and afew died God knows where. The vulturespicked them up first. But the siege goeson. The 808 acres of Bogside, Brandy-well and Creggan remain free. Forty ofthe forty-two entrances to Free Derryremain barricaded.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday, was a fine dayand a foul day. It was a fine thing toswing down Southway, thousands ofus singing, to pick up thousands moreof our comrades at the Brandywell.And then to swell through the Bogsidewhere it all began four years ago. Doyou remember? . . . .

We asked them to ban the Corporation,and they said no, and then they bannedit. We demanded houses and they saidn o , and then they built them. Wedemanded that Craig should go, andthey said no and then he went.

We told the police to Ieave the Bogsideand they said no – running all the wayback to barracks. And when SamDevanney died, paying the price of it all,we thought it more than we could bear,but we did. Death was strange then.Death is no stranger now, but the priceis higher and no easier to bear. No onewho died was a stranger to us.

What impossible things did we demand this time? That our internees be freed?That we walk on our own streets, thatthe Stormont cesspool be cleaned up –even the S.D.L.P. couldn’t bear thestink. For the least of these and thebest of these, thirteen men were mur-dered last week. Let it be said of themwith pride, they died on their feetand not on their knees. Let it not besaid of us they died in vain.

STAY FREE, BROTHERS ANDSISTERS.THERE’LL BE ANOTHER DAY

20 -7-BUTCHER’S DOZEN

(A LESSON FOR THE OCTAVEOF WIDGERY)

I went with Anger at my heelThrough Bogside of the bitter zeal- Jesus pity! – on a dayOf cold and drizzle and decayA month had passed. Yet there ramainedA murder smell that stung and stained.On flats and alleys – over all -It hung; on battered roof and wallOn wreck and rubbish scattered thick,On sullen steps and pitted brick.And when I came where thirteen diedIt shriveled up my heart, I sighedand looked about the brutal placeOf rage and terror and disgraceThen my moistened lips grew dry.I had heard an answering sigh!There in a ghostly pool of bloodA crumpled phantom hugged the mud:“Once there lived a hooligan.A pig came up, and away he ranHere lies one in blood and bones,Who lost his life for throwing stones”.

More voices speak. . . The Poet turnedand saw....

Three corpses forming, red and raw,From dirt to stone. Each upturned facestared unseeing from its place:“Behind this barrier, blighters three,We scrambled back and made to flee.The guns cried Stop, and here lie we”.Then from left and right they came.More mangled corpses, bleeding, lame,Holding their wounds They chose their

ground,Ghost by ghost, without a sound,And one stepped forward, soiled and

white:“A bomber I, I travelled light– Four pounds of nails and geligniteAbout my person, hid so well.They seemed to vanish where I fell.When the bullet stopped my breathA doctor sought the cause of death.He upped my shirt, undid my fly,Twice he moved my limbs awry,And noticed nothing. By and byA soldier, with his sharper eye,Beheld the four elusive rocketsStuffed in my coat and trouser pockets,Yes, they must be strict with us,Even in death, so treacherous!”

He faded, and another said:“We three met close when we were dead.Into an armoured car they piled usWhere our mingled blood defiled us,Certain, if not dead before,To suffocate upon the floor.Careful bullets in the backstopped our terrorist attack.And so three dangerous lives are done– Judged, condemned and shamed in

one.”

That spectre faded in his turn.A harsher stirred, and spoke in scorn:“The shame is theirs, in word and deed,Who prate of Justice, practice greed,And act in ignorant fury – then,Officers and gentlemen,Send to their Courts for the Most HighTo tell us did we really die!Does it need recourse to lawTo tell ten thousand what they saw?Law that lets them, caught red-handed,Halt the game and leave it stranded,Summon up a sworn inquiryAnd dump their conscience in the diary.During which hiatus, shouldTheir legal basis vanish, good,The thing is rapidly arranged:Where’s the law that can’t be changed?The news is out. The troops are kind.Impartial justice has to findWe’d be alive and well todayIf we had let them have their way.Yet England, even as you lie,You give the facts that you deny.Spread the lie with all your power- All that’s Ieft; it’s turning sour.Friend and stranger, bride and brother,Son and sister, father, mother.

Still another ghostly voice speaks tothe poet:

“My curse on the cunning and the bland.On gentlemen who loot a landThey do not care to understand;Who keeps the natives on their pawsWith ready lash and rotten laws;Then if the beasts erupt in rageGive them a slightly larger cageAnd, in scorn and fear combined,Turn them against their own kind.The game runs out of room at last,

21A people rises from its past,The going gets unduly toughAnd you have (surely . . . ?) had enoughThe time has come to yield your placeWith condescending show of grace– An Empire-builder handing onWe reap the ruin when you’ve gone.All your errors heaped behind you.Promises that do not bind you.Hopes in confIict, cramped commissions,Faiths exploited, and traditions”.Bloody sputum filled his throatHe stopped and coughed to clear it out.And finished, with his eyes-a-glow:“You came, you saw, you conquered . . .s oYou gorged – and it was time to go

Good riddance. We’d forget – released –But for the rubbish of your feast,The slops and scraps that fell to earthAnd sprang to arms in dragon birth.

And the poet ends;

I stood like a ghost. My fingers strayedAlong the fatal barricade.The gentle rainfall drifting downOver Colmcille’s townCould not refresh, only distilIn silent grief from hill to hill.

● Gardai under a barrage of petrol bombs outside the British Embassy in Dublin.

T H E W A YF O R W A R D

The Irish Republican Socialist Party was formed at a meeting held in Dublin on Sunday, December 8th 1974. The inaugural meeting

was attended by approximately 80 delegates from Belfast, Armagh, Co. Derry, Derry City, Donegal, Wicklow, Cork, Clare, Dublin,

Limerick and Tipperary.

It was unanimously agreed that the object of the Party would be to “End Imperialist Rule in Ireland and Establish a 32 county

Democratic Socialist Republic, with the Working Class in control of the Means of Production, Distribution and Exchange”.

To this end, it was agreed that the Party would launch a vigorous campaign of political agitation and education, North and South, on

the following issues:

6 COUNTIES

1. Recognizing that British Imperialist interference in Ireland constitutes the most immediate obstacle confronting the Irish people

in their struggle for Democracy, Nationial Liberation and Socialism; it shall be the policy of the I.R.S.P. to seek the formation

of a broad front on the basis of the following demands.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

That Britain must immediately renounce all claims to Sovereignty over any part of Ireland and its coastal waters and should’

immediately specify an early date for the total withdrawal of her military and political presence from Ireland.

Having specified the date for her total withdrawal from Ireland, Britain must immediately withdraw all troops to barracks;

release all internees and sentenced political prisoners; grant a general amnesty for all offences arising from the military

campaign against British Forces, or through involvement in the Civil Disobedience Campaign; abolish all repressive legislation;

grant a Bill of Rights, which will allow complete freedom of political action and outlaw all discrimination whether it be on

the basis of class, creed, political opinion or sex. Britain must also agree to compensate the Irish people for the exploitation

which has already occurred.

It shall be the policy of the I.R.S.P. to seek an active working alliance of all radical forces, with the context of the Broad

Front, in order to ensure the ultimate success of the Irish Working Class in their struggle for Socialism.

It will be an immediate objective of the party to launch an intensive campaign of opposition to E.E.C. membership. We

therefore, intend to play an active part in the E.E.C. Referendum in the 6 county area and through our support groups in Britain.Recognising that sectarianism and the present campaign of sectarian assassinations arises as a result of British manipulation

. . .of the most reactionary elements of Irish society: we shall seek to end this campaign on the basis of united action by the

Catholic and Protestant Working class against British imperialism in Ireland.

26 COUNTIES

1.

2.

3.

The I.R.S.P. shall seek to have an organisad United Campaign of all democratic forces against repressive legislation in the South and

against the policy of blatant collaboration with British Imperialism, which is now being pursued by the 26 County administration.

The I.R.S.P. is totally opposed to the exploitation of our natural resources by multi national corporations. It is, therefore, the policy

of the party to give active and sustained support to the present campaign for the nationalisation of the resources.

Recognizing that the rapidly increasing cost of living and rising unemployment are to a large extent a direct result of our E.E.C.

membership; it shall be the policy of the I.R.S.P. to actively support the formation of peoples organisations to combat rising prices

and unemployment.

The STARRY PLOUGH, publishedmonthly, is the official organ of theIrish Republican Socialist Party, andcovers Irish economic, political and

cultural affairs while also giving someforeign coverage. It represents theviews of the Irish Republican SocialistParty. It has outlets in Europe andAmerica as well as in Ireland. Anannual subscription is available for

only £2.20 (Ireland); £2.70 (Europe);and 6 dollars (United States].

Make sure you are getting the newsfrom a republican socialist point ofview by ordering your copies from34 Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin 1

This pamphlet wasproduced by theDerry ComhairleCeanntair of theIrish RepublicanSocialist Party andpublished byStarry Plough Pub-lications, 34 Upr.Gardiner Street,Dublin 1. Tel:721175.

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