Bloody Sunday, also known as the Bogside Massacre, was an incident that took place on January 30, 1972, in Derry, Northern Ireland. British soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians during a peaceful demonstration in response to a mass internment of 342 people who were alleged to be members of the Irish Republican Army. Fourteen people died in the massacre. Many were shot while fleeing from the soldiers, some were shot while trying to help the wounded.
Investigations into the incident cleared the British authorities and soldiers of culpability. The defense was that those who were shot had bombs. It wasn’t until 2010 that the killings were both unjustified and unjustifiable after it was determined that all those shots had been unarmed, there were no alleged bombs, and that the soldiers falsified the accounts to attempt to justify their actions.
A British paratrooper detains a man from the crowd on Bloody Sunday when British paratroopers opened fire on a civil rights march. Getty ImagesA British paratrooper detains a man from the crowd on Bloody Sunday, 30 January 1972, when British paratroopers opened fire on a civil rights march, killing 13 civilians, in Derry. Getty ImagesA demonstrator is placed on a stretcher after the Bloody Sunday shootings in Derry, Northern Ireland. The GuardianA girl stands in a ray of sunshine next to a soldier on Derry street on Bloody Sunday. The GuardianA man is treated for gunshot wounds in Derry after paratroopers opened fire on protesters. The GuardianA member of the Parachute Regiment clashes with a rioter during the illegal civil rights march in 1972 which became known as Bloody Sunday. The GuardianLondonderry. Bloody Sunday. Riots. A number of civilians arrested by the Army are marched in a line, with their hands on their heads, through the Bogside. 31/1/1972. Belfast TelegraphA priest gives the last rites to a demonstrator shot in the Bloody Sunday riots. The GuardianAlana Burke who was eighteen when she was run over by an armored personnel carrier on Bloody Sunday. Alana was one of only two women injured that day. Martin McKeown. Inpresspics.comA man receiving attention during the shooting incident in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, which became known as Bloody Sunday. Monday, June 14, 2010. PA/PA WireArrested Catholic demonstrators are made to stand against a wire fence. The GuardianBritish paratroopers detaining demonstrators. Belfast TelegraphBritish paratroopers take away civil rights demonstrators on Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972 after the paratroopers opened fire on civil rights. Getty ImagesBritish soldiers in riot gear detain a man on Bloody Sunday. Daily MailBritish soldiers march through a cleared street. Smoke rising from the background. Belfast TelegraphBritish soldiers on the streets of Derry during the Bloody Sunday riots. The GuardianBritish troops stand behind a barbed-wire barricade during the Bloody Sunday riots when 13 people lost their lives in a clash between British troops and civil rights demonstrators. Getty ImagesCatholic demonstrators and British troops on Bloody Sunday. The GuardianJames Wray in his home in Bogside Derry, holding the bullet-riddled coat that his son James Wray Jr. was killed in. Belfast TelegraphLord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery in his room at the Old Bailey as he looks through his report on the “Bloody Sunday” shootings in Londonderry. While the horror of Bloody Sunday sent shockwaves across the world, the judicial inquiry that followed arguably did as much damage to the reputation of the British state. The controversial fact-finding exercise by then Lord Chief Justice John Widgery, which effectively absolved the soldiers of any blame and claimed many of the dead had been armed, has long been considered a complete whitewash by the victims’ families. Their outrage at the Widgery report, which at its most critical said the soldiers’ actions ‘bordered on the reckless’, spurred the subsequent campaign for a fresh investigation, culminating in 1998 when Prime Minister Tony Blair ordering the Saville Inquiry. PA/PA WireBloody Sunday Trust undated handout photo of Michael McDaid who was killed on Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday Trust/PA WireOne of the victims of the Bloody Sunday shootings, when British paratroopers killed 13 civilians on a civil rights march in Derry. A 14th man died later in hospital. Getty ImagesPaddy Doherty, who was killed on Bloody Sunday. Picture. Maurice Thompson. Inpresspics.com.Protestors help a wounded man off the streets. Belfast TelegraphLondonderry. Bloody Sunday. The start of a grim day in Derry. Civil Rights marchers make their way through Creggan. They defied a Government ban and headed for Guildhall Square, but were stopped by the Army in William Street. 31/1/1972William McKinney, killed on Bloody Sunday. Maurice Thompson. Inpresspics.comHugh Gilmore who was killed on Bloody Sunday. Belfast TelegraphA Londonderry street being cleared with tear gas. Belfast TelegraphLondonderry. Bloody Sunday. Funeral. Mrs. Ita McKinney, 9 months pregnant cries behind the hearse carrying her husband James from St Mary’s, Creggan. 2/2/1972. Belfast TelegraphBritish paratroopers yell warnings over the bullhorn. Belfast TelegraphA funeral procession in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday. Belfast TelegraphProtestors carrying an injured man off the streets to receive medical attention. Belfast TelegraphGeneral Sir Robert Ford, Britain’s Commander of Land Forces in Northern Ireland, pictured on July 3, 1972. Belfast TelegraphA scene showing British paratroopers near Glenfada Park in Derry where Bloody Sunday took place. Collect picture.A scene showing a British paratrooper chasing a protestor near Glenfada Park in Derry where Bloody Sunday took place. Collect picture.Soldiers taking cover behind their sandbagged armored cars while dispersing rioters with CS gas in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday. PA WireThe inside of St Mary’s Church, on the Creggan Estate, during the Requiem Mass for the 13 who died on ‘Bloody Sunday’ in Londonderry. PA WireBloody Sunday Trust undated handout photo of Jim Wray who was killed on Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday Trust/PA WireBloody Sunday Trust undated handout photo of William McKinney who was killed on Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday Trust/PA WireBloody Sunday in Derry 1972 when members of the parachute regiment opened fire on a banned Civil Rights march through the city. Belfast TelegraphHugh Gilmore (third left) seen clutching his stomach as he is shot during Bloody Sunday. PA WireLt. Col. Derek Wilford, the former commander of the members of the Parachute Regiment involved in the Bloody Sunday shootings, who has sparked outrage Tuesday, July 6, 1999, when he condemned the group of relatives of the victims as a Republican Front Organization. Lt Col Derek Wilford, the former commander of the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, also appeared to brand “almost every” Catholic in Northern Ireland as Republicans. Belfast TelegraphParatroopers arrested several protestors and lined them up against a wall. Belfast Telegraph
