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Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
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The 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.
e Northern Ireland's creation as a state, the Roman Catholic community had suffered from discrimination under the Protestant Unionist government. Many Protestants, including Ian Paisley, instantly accused NICRA of being a Trojan Horse for the Irish Republican Army.
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The 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
Since Northern Ireland's creation as a state, the Roman Catholic community had suffered from discrimination under the Protestant Unionist government. Many Protestants, including Ian Paisley, instantly accused NICRA of being a Trojan Horse for the Irish Republican Army. In hindsight, this was completely untrue. In classified documents, British Scotland Yard said that NICRA was not itself linked to paramilitary groups.
In a conscious imitation of tactics used by the American Civil Rights Movement, and modelled somewhat on the National Council for Civil Liberties, the new organisation held marches, pickets, sit-ins and protests to pressure the Government of Northern Ireland to grant these demands.
NICRA had five main demands:
- one man, one vote
- an end to gerrymandering, which meant Protestant candidates were elected even in districts with Catholic majorities
- an end to discrimination in housing
- an end to discrimination in jobs
- the disbandment of the B-Specials, an entirely Protestant police force, which many viewed as sectarian.
NICRA was ignited by the Derry Housing Action Committee, which organized sit-ins to protest housing discrimination. The most prominent event the allocation of a home to a single Protestant woman, when there were many Catholic families living within one house.
Derry march
In September 1968, NICRA organised a march to be held in Derry on 5 October 1968. On 1 October, the Protestant fraternal organisation, the Apprentice Boys of Derry, announced their intention to march the same route on the same day and time. The British government and William Craig, the Northern Ireland Home Affairs Minister chose to ban civil rights marches.
Civil Rights demonstrators defied the ban. They were repeatedly attacked by the British State police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, who injured many marchers, including West Belfast MP Gerry Fitt. Television pictures of the march taken by RTÉ cameraman, Gay O'Brien, shocked viewers across the world. Following these events, Catholics in Derry rioted against police for two days. Students such as Bernadette Devlin at Queen's University, Belfast were radicalised by these events and formed a more radical civil rights organisation People's Democracy.
Unionist Prime Minister O'Neill made his 'Ulster at the crossroads' speech on television on 9 December, appealing for calm. As a result of the announced reforms, the more moderate civil rights associations declared halt to marches until 11 January 1969. The People's Democracy ignored the government's statement.
Burntollet
The People's Democracy rejected the government's ban on Civil Rights marches. In imitation of Martin Luther King's Selma to Montgomery marches, members held a march between Belfast and Derry starting on 1 January 1969. The march was repeatedly attacked by Protestant loyalists (including off-duty members of the Ulster Special Constabulary) along its route. The most violent incident occurred at Burntollet bridge where the marchers were attacked by about two hundred Protestants armed with iron bars, bottles and stones. Marchers claimed the police stood by and allowed the march to be attacked.
Northern Ireland slowly slid into disorder, as demands for Catholic rights continued. Some claim at this point that NICRA was responsible for rallying support of the Bogsiders during the Battle of the Bogside, which was a result of RUC attack. Some Catholics increasingly looked to the Irish Republican Army to protect their areas from police and Unionist attacks. The Marxist-influenced IRA leadership attempted to defend some areas but had few arms and little capacity to fight back against rioters who were often also members of the RUC and B Specials. The Provisional Irish Republican Army soon emerged, a breakaway from the Official IRA, to defend the Catholic community.
Bloody Sunday
The British government introduced internment on 9 August 1971. The British Army set off CS gas in Catholic districts and jailed thousands of men and women without trial. Many of those imprisoned were innocent civil rights activists.
NICRA organized marches against internment. In Derry on 30 January 1972, fourteen unarmed demonstrators were shot and killed by British troops during an anti-internment march. This became known as Bloody Sunday. The army later claimed it had come under fire. No guns were uncovered. Most of the victims were shot in the back, indicating they were running away. The British government report cleared the British Army of the deaths.
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