Free Derry was a self-declared autonomous
nationalistIrish nationalism comprises political and social movements and sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and a sense of pride in Ireland and the Irish people...
area of
DerryDerry or Londonderry often called the Maiden City, is a city in Northern Ireland. It is the second largest city in Northern Ireland and fourth largest city in the island of Ireland...
,
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, between 1969 and 1972. Its name was taken from a sign painted on a gable wall in the
BogsideThe Bogside is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland. The area has been a focus point for many of the events of The Troubles, from the Battle of the Bogside and Bloody Sunday in the 1960s and 1970s...
in January 1969 which read, “You are now entering Free Derry". The area, which included the Bogside and
CregganCreggan is a large housing estate in Derry in Northern Ireland. It was the first housing estate built in Derry specifically to provide housing for the Roman Catholic majority. It is situated on the outskirts of the city and is built on a hill...
neighbourhoods, was secured by community activists for the first time on 5 January 1969 following an incursion into the Bogside by members of the police force, the
Royal Ulster ConstabularyThe Royal Ulster Constabulary GC was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary , the Belfast Borough Police Force and the Londonderry Borough Police Force...
(RUC). Residents built
barricadeA barricade is any object or structure that creates a barrier or obstacle to control, block passage or force the flow of traffic in the desired direction...
s and carried
clubsA club is among the simplest of all weapons. A club is essentially a short staff, or stick, usually made of wood, and wielded as a weapon....
and similar arms to prevent the RUC from entering. After six days the residents took down the barricades and police patrols resumed, but tensions remained high over the following months.
Violence reached a peak on 12 August 1969, culminating in the
Battle of the BogsideThe Battle of the Bogside was a very large communal riot that took place in Derry, Northern Ireland during 12–14 August 1969. The fighting was between residents of the Bogside area and the Royal Ulster Constabulary .The rioting erupted after the Royal Ulster Constabulary attempted to disperse...
—a three day pitched battle between residents and police. On 14 August units of the
British ArmyThe British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and...
were deployed at the edge of the Bogside and the police were withdrawn. The
Derry Citizens Defence AssociationThe Derry Citizens' Defence Association , was an organisation set up in July 1969 in response to a perceived threat to the nationalist community of Derry in connection with the annual parade of the Apprentice Boys of Derry on 12 August. This followed clashes with the Royal Ulster Constabulary in...
(DCDA) declared their intention to hold the area against both the police and the army until their demands were met. The army made no attempt to enter the area. The situation continued until October 1969 when, following publication of the
Hunt ReportThe Hunt Report was produced by Baron Hunt in 1969 to "examine the recruitment, organisation, structure and composition of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the Ulster Special Constabulary and their respective functions and to recommend as necessary what changes are required to provide for the...
,
military policeMilitary police are normally the police of a military organization.Military police may refer to:* a section of the military solely responsible for policing the armed forces...
were allowed in.
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) began to re-arm and recruit after August 1969. In January 1970 it split into the Official IRA and the
Provisional IRAThe Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation which sought to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
. Both were supported by the people of the Free Derry area. Meanwhile, relations between the British Army and the nationalist community, which were initially good, deteriorated. In July 1971 there was a surge of recruitment into the IRA after two young men were shot and killed by British troops. The government introduced
internmentInternment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of ‘interning’; confinement within the limits of a country or place"...
on 9 August 1971, and in response, barricades went up once more in the Bogside and Creggan. This time, Free Derry was a
no-go areaA no-go area or no-go zone is a region where the ruling authorities have lost control and are unable to enforce the rule of law.-Rhodesia:The term 'no-go area' has a military origin and was first used in the context of the Bush War in Rhodesia...
, defended by armed members of both the Official and Provisional IRA. From within the area they mounted gun attacks on the army, and the Provisionals began a bombing campaign in the city centre. As before, unarmed 'auxiliaries' manned the barricades, and crime was dealt with by a voluntary body known as the Free Derry Police.
Support for the IRA increased further after
Bloody SundayBloody Sunday —sometimes called the Bogside Massacre—was an incident in Derry, Northern Ireland, on 30 January 1972. Twenty-seven civil rights protesters were shot by members of the 1st Battalion of the British Parachute Regiment during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in the...
in January 1972, when fourteen unarmed people were shot dead by British troops at a march in the Bogside. The support began to wane after the killing by the Official IRA of a local youth who was home on leave from the British Army. After a Provisional IRA ceasefire, during which it entered talks with the British Government, broke down, the British took the decision to move against the "no-go" areas. Free Derry came to an end on 31 July 1972, when thousands of troops moved in with armoured cars and bulldozers to occupy the area.
Background
Derry CityDerry or Londonderry often called the Maiden City, is a city in Northern Ireland. It is the second largest city in Northern Ireland and fourth largest city in the island of Ireland...
lies near the border between
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and the
Republic of IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
. It has a majority
nationalistIrish nationalism comprises political and social movements and sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and a sense of pride in Ireland and the Irish people...
population, and nationalists won a majority of seats in the 1920 local elections. Despite this, the
Ulster Unionist PartyThe Ulster Unionist Party is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
controlled the local
councilA city council is the legislative body that governs a city, municipality or local government area.-Australia:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council may vary slightly...
, Londonderry Corporation, from 1923 onwards. The Unionists maintained their majority, firstly, by manipulating the constituency boundaries (
gerrymanderingGerrymandering is a form of boundary delimitation in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are deliberately modified for electoral purposes, thereby producing a contorted or unusual shape...
) so that the South Ward, with a nationalist majority, returned eight councillors while the much smaller North Ward and Waterside Ward, with
unionistUnionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the maintenance or strengthening of the political and cultural ties between Ireland and Great Britain....
majorities, returned twelve councillors between them; secondly, by allowing only
ratepayersRates are a type of taxation system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, used to fund local government....
to vote in local elections, rather than one man, one vote, so that a higher number of nationalists, who did not own homes, were disenfranchised; and thirdly, by denying houses to nationalists outside the South Ward constituency. The result was that there were about 2,000 nationalist families, and practically no unionists, on the housing waiting list, and that housing in the nationalist area was crowded and of a very poor condition. The South Ward comprised the
BogsideThe Bogside is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland. The area has been a focus point for many of the events of The Troubles, from the Battle of the Bogside and Bloody Sunday in the 1960s and 1970s...
, Brandywell,
CregganCreggan can refer to:*Creggan, County Armagh, a small village in Northern Ireland.*Creggan, County Tyrone, a townland in Northern Ireland.*Creggan, Derry, a large housing estate in Derry, Northern Ireland....
, Bishop Street and Foyle Road, and it was this area that would become Free Derry.
The
Derry Housing Action CommitteeThe Derry Housing Action Committee , was an organisation formed in 1968 in Derry, Northern Ireland to protest about housing conditions and provision....
(DHAC) was formed in March 1968 by members of the Derry Branch of the
Northern Ireland Labour PartyThe Northern Ireland Labour Party was a political party which operated from 1924 until 1987.In 1913 the British Labour Party resolved to give the recently formed Irish Labour Party exclusive organising rights in Ireland...
and the James Connolly Republican Club, including
Eamonn McCannEamonn McCann is an Irish journalist, author, and political activist.-Life:McCann was born and has lived most of his life in Derry. He was educated at St. Columb's College in the city. McCann is prominently featured in the documentary film The Boys of St...
and Eamon Melaugh. It disrupted a meeting of Londonderry Corporation in March 1968 and in May blocked traffic by placing a caravan that was home to a family of four in the middle of the Lecky Road in the Bogside and staging a sit-down protest at the opening of the second deck of the
Craigavon BridgeThe Craigavon Bridge is one of two bridges in Derry, Northern Ireland. It crosses the River Foyle further south than the Foyle Bridge. It is the only double-decker road bridge in Europe. It was named after Lord Craigavon, a former Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.The present bridge began...
. After the meeting of Londonderry Corporation was again disrupted in August, Eamon Melaugh telephoned the
Northern Ireland Civil Rights AssociationThe Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was an organisation which campaigned for civil rights for the Roman Catholic minority in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s and early 1970s. -Origins:...
(NICRA) and invited them to hold a march in Derry. The date chosen was 5 October 1968, an adhoc committee was formed (although in reality most of the organizing was done by McCann and Melaugh) and the route was to take the marchers inside the city walls, where nationalists were traditionally not permitted to march. The
Minister of Home AffairsThe Minister of Home Affairs was a member of the Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland in the Parliament of Northern Ireland which governed Northern Ireland from 1921 to 1972...
, William Craig, made an order on 3 October prohibiting the march on the grounds that the
Apprentice Boys of DerryThe Apprentice Boys Of Derry is a Protestant fraternal society with a worldwide membership, founded in 1814. They are based in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland. However, there are Clubs and branches across Ireland, Great Britain and further afield...
were intending to hold a march on the same day. In the words of Martin Melaugh of
CAINCAIN is a database containing information about Conflict and Politics in Northern Ireland from 1968 to the Present. The project began in 1996, with the website launching in 1997. The project is based within the University of Ulster at its Magee campus...
"this particular tactic...provided the excuse needed to ban the march." When the marchers attempted to defy the ban on 5 October they were stopped by a police (
Royal Ulster ConstabularyThe Royal Ulster Constabulary GC was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary , the Belfast Borough Police Force and the Londonderry Borough Police Force...
(RUC)) cordon. The police drew their
batonsA truncheon or baton is essentially a stick of less than arm's length, usually made of wood, plastic, or metal, and carried by law-enforcement, corrections, security, and military personnel for less lethal self-defense, as well...
and struck marchers, including
StormontThe Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which existed from 22 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended...
MPA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
Eddie McAteerEddie McAteer was an nationalist politician in Northern Ireland.Born in Coatbridge, Scotland, McAteer's family moved to Derry in Northern Ireland while he was young. In 1930 he joined the Inland Revenue, where he worked until 1944. He then became an accountant and more actively involved in politics...
and
WestminsterThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. It alone has parliamentary sovereignty, conferring upon it ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories...
MP
Gerry FittGerard "Gerry" Fitt, Baron Fitt was a politician in Northern Ireland. He was a founder and the first leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party , a social democratic and Irish nationalist party.-Early years:...
. Subsequently the police "broke ranks and used their batons indiscriminately on people in Duke Street". Marchers trying to escape met another party of police and "these police also used their batons indiscriminately." Water cannons were also used. The police action caused outrage in the nationalist area of Derry, and at a meeting four days later the Derry Citizens' Action Committee (DCAC) was formed, with
John HumeJohn Hume is a former Irish politician from Derry, founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party and co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, with David Trimble....
as chairman and
Ivan CooperIvan Averill Cooper is a former politician from Northern Ireland who was a Member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and founding member of the SDLP...
as vice-chairman.
The first barricades
Another group formed as a result of the events of 5 October was
People's DemocracyPeople's Democracy was a political organization that, while supporting the campaign for civil rights for Northern Ireland's Catholic minority, stated that such rights could only be achieved through the establishment of a socialist republic for all of Ireland...
, a group of students in Queen's University Belfast. They organised a march from
BelfastBelfast is the capital of and the largest city in Northern Ireland, a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It is the seat of devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly. It is the largest urban area in the province of Ulster, and the second largest city on the island of...
to Derry in support of civil rights, starting out with about forty young people on 1 January 1969. The march met with violent opposition from
loyalistUlster loyalism is a militant unionist ideology held mostly by Protestants in Northern Ireland. Some individuals claim that Ulster loyalists are working-class unionists willing to use violence in order to achieve their aims...
counter-demonstrators at several points along the route. Finally, at Burntollet Bridge, five miles outside Derry, they were attacked by a mob of about two hundred wielding clubs—some of them studded with nails—and stones. Half of the attackers were later identified from press photographs as members of the
B-SpecialsThe Ulster Special Constabulary was a reserve police force in Northern Ireland viewed with great mistrust by nationalists who claimed, with some proven justification, that the force was anti-Catholic...
. The police, who were at the scene, chatted to the B-Specials as they prepared their ambush, and were then unable to protect the marchers, many of whom ran into the river and were pelted with stones from the bank. Dozens of marchers were taken to hospital. The remainder continued on to Derry where they were attacked once more on their way to Craigavon Bridge before they finally reached Guildhall Square, where they held a rally. Rioting broke out after the rally. Police drove rioters into the Bogside, but did not come after them. In the early hours of the following morning, 5 January, members of the RUC charged into St. Columb's Wells and Lecky Road in the Bogside, breaking windows and beating residents. In his report on the disturbances, Lord Cameron remarked that "for such conduct among members of a disciplined and well-led force there can be no acceptable justification or excuse" and added that "its effect in rousing passions and inspiring hostility towards the police was regrettably great."
That afternoon over 1,500 Bogside residents built
barricadeA barricade is any object or structure that creates a barrier or obstacle to control, block passage or force the flow of traffic in the desired direction...
s, armed themselves with steel bars, wooden clubs and
hurleysA hurley, also known as a camán , and lesser known as hurl, a hurling stick, shtick , is a wooden stick measuring between 70 and 100 cm long with a flattened, curved end , used to hit a sliotar in the Irish sport of hurling...
, and told the police that they would not be allowed into the area. DCAC chairman John Hume told a meeting of residents that they were to defend the area and no-one was to come in. Groups of men wearing
armbandAn armband is a piece of cloth worn around the arm over the sleeve of other clothing to mark the wearer as belonging to group, having a certain rank or role, or being in a particular state or condition....
s patrolled the streets in shifts. John 'Caker' Casey, a local activist, painted "You are now entering Free Derry" in white paint on the gable wall of a house on the corner of Lecky Road and Fahan Street. That corner, which was a popular venue for meetings, later became known as "Free Derry Corner". On 7 January, the barricaded area was extended to include the Creggan, another nationalist area on a hill overlooking the Bogside. A pirate radio station calling itself "Radio Free Derry" began broadcasting to residents, playing
rebel songsIrish rebel music is a sub genre of Irish folk music, with much the same instrumentation, but with lyrics predominantly concerned with Irish nationalism, and especially the struggle for independence from British rule.- History :...
and encouraging resistance. On a small number of occasions law-breakers attempted crimes, but were dealt with by the patrols. Despite all this, the
Irish Times reported that "the infrastructure of revolutionary control in the area has not been developed beyond the maintenance of patrols." Following some acts of destruction and of violence late in the week, members of the DCAC including Ivan Cooper addressed residents on Friday, 10 January and called on them to dismantle the barricades. The barricades were taken down the following morning.
April 1969
Over the next three months there were violent clashes, with local youths throwing stones at police. Violence came to a head on Saturday, 19 April after a planned march from Burntollet Bridge to the city centre was banned. A protest in the city centre led to clashes with 'Paisleyites'—members of the unionist community in sympathy with the anti-civil rights stance of
Ian PaisleyRev Dr Ian Richard Kyle Paisley is a veteran politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , the largest single grouping in the 2007 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly, he was elected First Minister with Sinn Féin's Martin...
. Police attempting to drive the protesters back into the Bogside were themselves driven back to their barracks. A series of pitched battles followed, and barricades were built under the supervision of
Bernadette DevlinJosephine Bernadette Devlin McAliskey , also known as Bernadette Devlin and Bernadette McAliskey, is a socialist republican political activist...
, newly-elected MP for
Mid UlsterMid Ulster is a Parliamentary Constituency in the British House of Commons.-Boundaries:The seat was created in 1950 when the old Fermanagh and Tyrone two-member constituency was abolished as part of the final move to single member seats...
. Police pursuing rioters broke into a house in William Street and severely beat the occupant, Samuel Devenny, his family and two friends. Devenny was brought to hospital "bleeding profusely from a number of head wounds." At midnight four hundred RUC men in full riot gear and carrying riot shields occupied the Bogside. Convoys of police vehicles drove through the area with headlights blazing.
The following day, several thousand residents, led by the DCAC, withdrew to the Creggan and issued an ultimatum to the RUC — withdraw within two hours or be driven out. With fifteen minutes of the two hours remaining, the police marched out through the Butcher's Gate, even as the residents were entering from the far side. The barricades were not maintained on this occasion, and routine patrols were not prevented.
Samuel Devenny suffered a heart attack four days after his beating. On 17 July he suffered a further heart attack and died. Thousands attended his funeral, and the mood was sufficiently angry that it was clear the annual
Apprentice BoysThe Apprentice Boys Of Derry is a Protestant fraternal society with a worldwide membership, founded in 1814. They are based in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland. However, there are Clubs and branches across Ireland, Great Britain and further afield...
' parade, scheduled for 12 August, could not take place without causing serious disturbance.
August – October 1969
The Apprentice Boys' parade is an annual celebration by unionists of the relief of the
Siege of DerryFor context see the Williamite War in Ireland and Jacobitism.The Siege of Derry, took place in Ireland during 1689....
in 1689, which began when thirteen young
apprenticeApprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
boys shut the city's gates against the army of
King JamesJames II & VII was King of England and Ireland as James II, and Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
. At that time the parade was held on 12 August each year. Participants from across Northern Ireland and Britain marched along the city walls above the Bogside, and were often openly hostile to the residents. On 30 July 1969 the
Derry Citizens Defence AssociationThe Derry Citizens' Defence Association , was an organisation set up in July 1969 in response to a perceived threat to the nationalist community of Derry in connection with the annual parade of the Apprentice Boys of Derry on 12 August. This followed clashes with the Royal Ulster Constabulary in...
(DCDA) was formed to try to preserve peace during the period of the parade, and to defend the Bogside and Creggan in the event of an attack. The chairman was
Seán KeenanSeán Keenan [ Aeneas Bonner. Retrieved 2008-03-01] was an Irish republican from Derry, Northern Ireland....
, an
Irish Republican ArmyThe original Irish Republican Army fought a guerrilla war against British rule in Ireland in the Irish War of Independence 1919-1921. Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921, the IRA in the 26 counties that were to become the Irish Free State split between supporters and...
(IRA) veteran; the vice-chairman was
Paddy DohertyPatrick Doherty is a former activist in Derry, Northern Ireland.As vice-chairman of the Derry Citizens Defence Association Doherty played a major role in the events of August 1969 which culminated in the Battle of the Bogside, and was a leading figure in Free Derry in the years following its...
, a popular local man sometimes known as "Paddy Bogside" and the secretary was
Johnnie WhiteJohn White was Officer Commanding the Official Irish Republican Army in Derry, Northern Ireland and later Adjutant General of the Irish National Liberation Army...
, another leading republican and leader of the James Connolly Republican Club. Street committees were formed under the overall command of the DCDA and barricades were built on the night of 11 August. The parade took place as planned on 12 August. As it passed through Waterloo Place, on the edge of the Bogside, hostilities began between supporters and opponents of the parade. Fighting between the two groups continued for two hours, then the police charged up William Street, followed by the 'Paisleyites'. They were met with a hail of stones and petrol bombs. The ensuing battle became known as the
Battle of the BogsideThe Battle of the Bogside was a very large communal riot that took place in Derry, Northern Ireland during 12–14 August 1969. The fighting was between residents of the Bogside area and the Royal Ulster Constabulary .The rioting erupted after the Royal Ulster Constabulary attempted to disperse...
. Late in the evening, having been driven back repeatedly, the police fired canisters of
CS gasCS gas is the common name for 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile , a "tear gas" that is used as a riot control agent. It is generally accepted as being non-lethal...
into the crowd. Youths on the roof of a high-rise block of flats on Rossville Street threw petrol bombs down on the police. Walkie-talkies were used to maintain contact between different areas of fighting and DCDA headquarters in Paddy Doherty's house in Westland Street, and first aid stations were operating, staffed by doctors, nurses and volunteers. Women and girls made milk-bottle crates of petrol bombs for supply to the youths in the front line and "Radio Free Derry" broadcast to the fighters and their families. On the third day of fighting, 14 August, the Northern Ireland Government mobilised the
Ulster Special ConstabularyThe Ulster Special Constabulary was a reserve police force in Northern Ireland viewed with great mistrust by nationalists who claimed, with some proven justification, that the force was anti-Catholic...
(B-Specials), a force greatly feared by nationalists in Derry and elsewhere. Before they engaged, however,
British troopsThe British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and...
were deployed at the scene, carrying
automatic rifleAutomatic rifle is a term generally used to describe a self-loading rifle chambered for a rifle cartridge, capable of delivering both semi- and fully automatic fire...
s and
sub-machine gunsA submachine gun is a firearm that combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol, and is usually between the two in weight and size...
. The RUC and B-Specials withdrew, and the troops took up positions outside the barricaded area.
A deputation that included Eamon McCann met senior army officers and told them that the army would not be allowed in until certain demands were met, including the disarming of the RUC, the disbandment of the B-Specials and the abolition of Stormont (the
ParliamentThe Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which existed from 22 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended...
and
Government of Northern IrelandThe Executive Committee or the Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland was the government of Northern Ireland created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Generally known as either the cabinet or the Government, the Executive Committee existed from 1922 to 1972...
). The officers agreed that neither troops nor police would enter the Bogside and Creggan districts. A 'peace corps' was formed to maintain law and order. When the British Home Secretary,
Jim CallaghanLeonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
, visited Northern Ireland and announced his intention to visit the Bogside on 28 August, he was told that he would not be allowed to bring either police or soldiers with him. Callaghan agreed. Accompanied by members of the Defence Committee, he was "swept along by a surging crowd of thousands" up Rossvile Street and into Lecky Road, where he "took refuge" in a local house, and later addressed crowds from an upstairs window. In preparation for Callaghan's visit the "Free Derry" wall was painted white and the "You are now entering Free Derry" sign was professionally re-painted in black lettering.
Following Callaghan's visit, some barricades were breached, but the majority remained while the people awaited concrete evidence of reform. Still the army made no move to enter the area. Law and order was maintained by a 'peace corps'—volunteers organised by the DCDA to patrol the streets and man the barricades. There was very little crime. Punishment, in the words of Eamonn McCann, "as often as not consisted of a stern lecture from Seán Keenan on the need for solidarity within the area." In September the barricades were replaced with a white line painted on the road.
The
Hunt ReportThe Hunt Report was produced by Baron Hunt in 1969 to "examine the recruitment, organisation, structure and composition of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the Ulster Special Constabulary and their respective functions and to recommend as necessary what changes are required to provide for the...
on the future of policing in Northern Ireland was presented to the Stormont cabinet in early October. Jim Callaghan held talks with the cabinet in Belfast on 10 October, following which the report's recommendations were accepted and made public. They included the recommendation that the RUC should be 'ordinarily' unarmed, and that the B-Specials should be phased out and replaced by a new force. The new RUC Chief Constable, Arthur Young, an Englishman, was announced, and travelled to Belfast with Callaghan. The same day, Seán Keenan announced that the DCDA was to be dissolved. On 11 October Callaghan and Young visited the Free Derry, and on 12 October the first
military policeMilitary police are normally the police of a military organization.Military police may refer to:* a section of the military solely responsible for policing the armed forces...
entered the Bogside, on foot and unarmed.
IRA resurgence
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) had been inactive militarily since the end of the
Border CampaignThe Border Campaign was a campaign of guerrilla warfare carried out by the Irish Republican Army against targets in Northern Ireland, with the aim of overthrowing that state and creating a united Ireland...
in 1962. It was low in both personnel and equipment—Chief of Staff
Cathal GouldingCathal Goulding was Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army and the Official IRA.One of seven children born into a republican family in East Arran Street in the north inner city of Dublin, Goulding was involved as teenager in Fianna Éireann, the IRA youth wing which he joined with his...
told Seán Keenan and Paddy Doherty in August 1969 that he "couldn't defend the Bogside. I haven't the men nor the guns to do it." During the 1960s the leadership of the
Republican MovementThe Republican Movement is a collective term used to describe the Irish Republican Army and other political, social and paramilitary organisations associated with it.The term is not restricted to any one movement and can include:...
had moved to the
leftIn politics, left-wing, political left, leftist and the Left are terms used to describe a number of positions and ideologies. They are most commonly used to refer to support for changing traditional social orders or for creating a more egalitarian distribution of wealth and privilege...
. Its focus was on
class struggleClass struggle is the active expression of class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, leading ideologists of communism, wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle".Marx's notion of class has...
and its aim was to unite the nationalist and unionist
working classWorking class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in lower tier jobs as measured by skill, education, and compensation....
es in order to overthrow
capitalismCapitalism is an economic and social system in which the means of production are privately controlled; labor, goods and capital are traded in a market; profits are distributed to owners or invested in technologies and industries; and wages are paid to labor...
, both British and Irish. Republican Clubs were formed in Northern Ireland, where
Sinn FéinSinn Féin is a political party in Ireland. The current party, led by Gerry Adams, was formed following a split in January 1970 and traces its origins back to the original Sinn Féin party formed in 1905. It is a major party of Irish republicanism and its political ideology is left wing...
was proscribed. These clubs were involved in the formation of NICRA in 1967. In Derry, the James Connolly Republican Club worked closely with Labour Party radicals, with whom they set up the Derry Housing Action Committee and Derry Unemployed Action Committee. The Derry Citizens' Defence Association was formed initially by republicans, who then invited other nationalists to join. Although there were tensions between the younger leaders like Johnnie White and the older, traditional republicans such as Seán Keenan, both sides saw the unrest of 1968-69 as a chance to advance republican aims, and the two shared the platform at the
EasterThe Easter Rising , was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic...
commemoration in April 1969.
The events of August 1969 in Derry, and more particularly in Belfast where the IRA was unable to prevent loss of life or protect families burned out of their homes, brought to a head the divisions that had already appeared within the movement between the radicals and the traditionalists and led to a split in January 1970 into the Official IRA and the
Provisional IRAThe Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation which sought to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
. Initially, both armies organised for
defensiveDefense has several uses in the sphere of military application.Personal defense implies measures taken by individual soldiers in protecting themselves whether by use of protective materials such as armor, or field construction of trenches or a bunker, or by using weapons that prevent the enemy...
purposes only, although the Provisionals were planning towards an
offensiveAn offensive is a military operation that seeks through aggressive projection of armed force to occupy territory, gain an objective or achieve some larger strategic, operational or tactical goal...
campaign. In Derry there was far less hostility between the two organisations than elsewhere. Householders commonly paid subscriptions to both. When rioters were arrested after the Official's Easter parade in March 1970, Officials and Provisionals picketed their trial together. At the start the Officials attracted most of the younger members.
Martin McGuinnessJames Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland....
, who in August 1969 was a young stone-thrower, initially joined the Officials, but a few months later left to join the Provisionals.
Relations between the army and the residents had steadily decayed since the first appearance of troops in August 1969. In September, after clashes between nationalist and unionist crowds that led to the death of a Protestant man, William King, the army erected a 'peace ring' to enclose the nationalist population in the area they had previously controlled. Roads into the city centre were closed at night and people were prevented from walking on certain streets. Although some moderate nationalists accepted this as necessary, there was anger among young people. Clashes between youths and troops became more frequent. The riot following the Official Republican Easter parade in March 1970 marked the first time that the army used '
snatch squadA snatch squad is a police riot control tactic which involves serveral police officers, usually in protective riot gear, rushing forwards, occasionally in flying wedge formation to break through the front of a crowd, with the objective of snatching one or more individuals from a riot or...
s', who rushed into the Bogside wielding batons to make arrests. The snatch squads soon became a common feature of army arrest operations. There was also a belief that they were arresting people at random, sometimes days after the alleged offence, and based on the identification of people that they had seen from a considerable distance. The rioters were condemned as hooligans by moderates, who saw the riots as hampering attempts to resolve the situation. The Labour radicals and Official Republicans, still working together, tried to turn the youth away from rioting and create a
socialistSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
organization—one such organization was named the Young Hooligans Association—but to no avail. The Provisionals, while disapproving of riots, viewed them as the inevitable consequence of British 'occupation' of Ireland. This philosophy was more attractive to rioters, and some of them joined the Provisional IRA. The deaths of two leading Provisionals in a premature explosion in June 1970 resulted in young militants becoming more prominent in the organization. Nevertheless, up to July 1971 the Provisional IRA remained numerically small.
Two men, Séamas Cusack and Desmond Beattie, were shot dead in separate incidents in the early morning and afternoon of 8 July 1971. They were the first people to be killed by the army in Derry. In both cases the army claimed that the men were attacking them with guns or bombs, while eye-witnesses insisted that both were unarmed. The
Social Democratic and Labour PartyThe Social Democratic and Labour Party is one of the two major nationalist parties in Northern Ireland. During the Troubles, the SDLP was consistently the most popular nationalist party in Northern Ireland, but since the Provisional IRA cease-fire in 1994, it has lost ground to its rival Sinn...
(SDLP), the newly-formed party of which John Hume and Ivan Cooper were leading members, withdrew from Stormont in protest, but among the residents there was a perception that 'moderate' policies had failed. The result was a surge of support for the IRA. The Provisionals held a meeting the following Sunday at which they called on people to "join the IRA". Following the meeting, people queued up to join, and there was large-scale rioting. The army post at Bligh's Lane came under sustained attack, and troops there and around the city came under fire from the IRA.
Internment and the third Free Derry
The deteriorating military situation in Derry and elsewhere led to increasing speculation that
internment without trialInternment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of ‘interning’; confinement within the limits of a country or place"...
would be introduced in Northern Ireland, and on 9 August 1971 hundreds of republicans and nationalists were lifted in dawn raids. In Derry, residents came out onto the streets to resist the arrests, and fewer people were taken there than elsewhere; nevertheless leading figures including Seán Keenan and Johnnie White were interned. In response, barricades were erected once again and the third Free Derry came into existence. Unlike its predecessors, this Free Derry was marked by a strong IRA presence, both Official and Provisional. It was defended by armed paramilitaries—a
no-go areaA no-go area or no-go zone is a region where the ruling authorities have lost control and are unable to enforce the rule of law.-Rhodesia:The term 'no-go area' has a military origin and was first used in the context of the Bush War in Rhodesia...
, one in which British security forces were unable to operate.
Gun attacks on the army increased. Six soldiers were wounded in the first day after internment, and shortly afterwards a soldier was killed—the first to be killed by either IRA in Derry. The army moved in in force on 18 August to dismantle the barricades. A gun battle ensued in which a young Provisional IRA officer, Eamonn Lafferty, was killed. A crowd staging a sit-down protest was hosed down and the protestors, including John Hume and Ivan Cooper, arrested. With barricades re-appearing as quickly as they were removed, the army eventually abandoned their attempt.
The Derry Provisionals had little contact with the IRA elsewhere. They had few weapons (about twenty) which they used mainly for sniping. At the same time, they launched their bombing campaign in Derry. Unlike Belfast, however, they were careful to avoid killing or injuring innocent people. Eamonn McCann wrote that "the Derry Provos, under Martin McGuinness, had managed to bomb the city centre until it looked as if it had been hit from the air without causing any civilian casualties."
Although both IRAs operated openly, neither was in control of Free Derry. The barricades were manned by unarmed 'auxiliaries'. Crime was dealt with by the Free Derry Police, which was headed by
Tony O'DohertyTony O'Doherty is a former Northern Irish footballer and footballing manager.He played for Derry City FC and also internationally for Northern Ireland in the British Home Championship against England in front of a crowd of 100,000 at the old Wembley Stadium on 21 April, 1970...
, a Derry footballer and
Northern Ireland InternationalThe Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international football. Before 1921, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association...
.
Bloody Sunday
An anti-internment protest organised by the
Northern Ireland Civil Rights AssociationThe Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was an organisation which campaigned for civil rights for the Roman Catholic minority in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s and early 1970s. -Origins:...
(NICRA) at Magilligan Camp in January 1972 was met with violence from the 1st Battalion, The
Parachute RegimentParachute regiment can denote*Kayseri Hava İndirme Tugayı *Parachute Regiment *Parachute Regiment *Paratroopers Brigade *44 Parachute Regiment *1st Airborne Brigade...
(1 Para). NICRA had organised a march from the Creggan to Derry city centre, in defiance of a ban, on the following Sunday, 30 January 1972. Both IRA's were asked, and agreed, to suspend operations on that day to ensure the march passed off peacefully. The army erected barricades around the Free Derry area to prevent marchers from reaching the city centre. On the day, march organisers turned the march away from the barriers and up to Free Derry Corner, but some youths proceeded to the barrier at William Street and stoned soldiers. Troops from
1 Para then moved into Free Derry and opened fire, killing thirteen people, all of whom were subsequently found to be unarmed. A fourteenth shooting victim died four months later in June 1972. Like the killing of Cusack and Beattie the previous year,
Bloody SundayBloody Sunday —sometimes called the Bogside Massacre—was an incident in Derry, Northern Ireland, on 30 January 1972. Twenty-seven civil rights protesters were shot by members of the 1st Battalion of the British Parachute Regiment during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in the...
had the effect of hugely increasing recruitment to the IRA, even among people who previously would have been 'moderates'.
February - July 1972
Both Provisional and Official IRA stepped up attacks after Bloody Sunday, with the tacit if not the active support of the residents. Local feelings changed, however, with the killing of Ranger William Best by the Official IRA. Best was a 19-year-old local man who was home on leave from the British Army at his parents' house in the Creggan. He was abducted, interrogated and shot. The following day 500 women marched to the Republican Club offices in protest. Nine days later, on 29 May, the Official IRA declared a ceasefire. The Provisional IRA initially stated that they would not follow suit, but after informal approaches to the British Government they announced a ceasefire from 26 June. Martin McGuinness was the Derry representative in a party of senior Provisionals who travelled to London for talks with William Whitelaw, the
Secretary of State for Northern IrelandThe Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is the chief minister in the government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Northern Ireland, at the head of the Northern Ireland Office...
. The talks were not resumed after the ending of the truce following a violent confrontation in Belfast when troops prevented Catholic families from taking over houses in the Lenadoon estate.
Political pressure for the action against the "no-go" areas increased after the events of
Bloody FridayBloody Friday is the name given to the bombings by the Provisional Irish Republican Army's Belfast Brigade in and around Belfast, Northern Ireland on 21 July, 1972, which killed nine people including two soldiers, and injured 130 civilians....
in Belfast. An army attack was considered inevitable, and the IRA took the decision not to resist it. On 31 July 1972,
Operation MotormanOperation Motorman was an operation carried out by the British Army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The operation started at 4:00am 31 July 1972 to retake the no-go areas established in Derry and Belfast in the aftermath of internment the previous year...
was launched when thousands of British troops, equipped with tanks, armoured cars and armoured bulldozers (
AVREsArmoured Vehicle Royal Engineers is the title given to a series of armoured vehicles operated by the Royal Engineers for the purpose of battlefield engineering support. These vehicles have been either purpose built or have been post-production modifications of existing tank based armoured vehicles...
), dismantled the barricades and occupied the area.
Subsequent history
After Operation Motorman, the British Army controlled the Bogside and Creggan by stationing large numbers of troops within the area, by conducting large-scale 'search' operations that were in fact undertaken for purposes of intelligence gathering, and by setting up over a dozen covert observation posts. Over the following years IRA violence in the city was contained to the point where it was possible to believe 'the war was over', although there were still frequent street riots. Nationalists—even those who did not support the IRA—remained bitterly opposed to the army and to the state.
Many of the residents' original grievances were addressed with the passing of the Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act, 1972, which redrew the electoral boundaries and introduced universal adult suffrage based on the
single transferable voteThe Single transferable vote is a system of preferential voting designed to minimize "wasted" votes and provide proportional representation while ensuring that votes are explicitly expressed for individual candidates rather than for party lists...
. Elections were held in May 1973. Nationalists gained a majority on the council for the first time since 1923. Since then the area has been extensively redeveloped, with modern housing replacing the old houses and flats. The Free Derry era is commemorated by the Free Derry wall, the murals of the
Bogside ArtistsThe Bogside Artists are a trio of mural painters from Derry, Northern Ireland, consisting of Tom Kelly, his brother William Kelly, and Kevin Hasson...
and the Museum of Free Derry.
External links