- Milltown Cemetery attack
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Milltown Massacre Part of The Troubles 
Milltown funerals minutes before the attackLocation Milltown Cemetery, Belfast,
Northern IrelandCoordinates 54°35′0″N 5°58′38″W / 54.583333°N 5.97722°WCoordinates: 54°35′0″N 5°58′38″W / 54.583333°N 5.97722°W Date 16 March 1988 Weapon(s) RGD-5 hand grenades, Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistol, .357 magnum revolver Death(s) 3 Injured over 60 Perpetrator Michael Stone The Milltown Cemetery attack (also known as the Milltown Cemetery killings or Milltown Massacre[1][2]) took place on 16 March 1988 in Belfast's Milltown Cemetery. During the funeral of three Provisional IRA volunteers, Ulster Defence Association (UDA) volunteer Michael Stone attacked the crowd with grenades and pistols, killing three and wounding over sixty.
Contents
Background
On 16 March 1988, Provisional IRA members Daniel McCann, Seán Savage and Mairéad Farrell, who had been killed by the SAS in Gibraltar, were due to be buried in the republican plot at Milltown Cemetery, Belfast. In a change from normal security procedures, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and British Army had agreed to stay away from the funeral. The funeral service and requiem mass went ahead as planned, and the cortege made its way to Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road.
Attack
As the coffins were being lowered into the ground, a burst of gunfire was heard. At first, it was mistaken for the usual three-volley salute given at IRA funerals and some people even applauded. However, it was not a salute. A lone UDA member from East Belfast, Michael Stone, had infiltrated the crowd of mourners in an attempt to eliminate Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness with several RGD-5 hand grenades, a Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistol and a .357 Magnum revolver. Stone killed three people: Catholic civilians Thomas McErlean (20) and John Murray (26), and IRA member Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh (30), who had tried to disarm him. The whole event was recorded by television news cameras.
Stone made his escape towards the motorway, chased by several members of the crowd, but continued firing his handguns and throwing hand grenades at his pursuers. Stone made it as far as the M1 motorway, but was caught by the crowd, who began beating him and shouting that they would kill him. He was eventually put in the back of a car and was being driven away to be shot by the IRA, when the car was intercepted by the RUC, who arrested him and took him to Musgrave Park Hospital for treatment of his injuries. Stone later confessed to the three killings at Milltown and a further three paramilitary killings committed beforehand. The final toll was three dead and upwards of sixty injured.
Aftermath
At his trial, Stone received sentences totalling 682 years, but was released after serving just 13 years as a result of the Good Friday Agreement. Apart from time on remand spent in Crumlin Road Prison, Stone spent all of his sentence in HM Prison Maze.
Shortly after the Milltown killings, one of Stone's victims, Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh, was being buried when two British Army Corporals (Derek Wood and David Howes) drove into the path of the funeral cortege — apparently by mistake.[3] Scenes relayed on live television showed the two corporals being cornered by black taxis and dragged from their car before being taken away by republicans to be beaten, stripped naked, and then shot dead.[4][5][6][7] This event is often referred to as the corporals killings.
The Browning pistol Stone used during the killings was grabbed by the mob on the day of the attack and was eventually used by an IRA unit at Belfast to ambush a combined RUC/British Army patrol on 13 October 1990. A constable was shot dead and another badly injured.[8]
In his autobiography, None Shall Divide Us, Stone claimed that he had received "special assistance" from RUC operatives in carrying out the cemetery attack. He also stated that he deeply regretted the hurt he had caused the families of those he killed, and paid tribute to the bravery of two of the men who had tried to disarm him at the cemetery, John Murray and Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh, whom he shot. Stone said in the book "I didn't choose killing as a career, killing chose me".
In November 2006, Stone was arrested while attempting to gain entry to the parliament buildings at Stormont while armed with an imitation handgun, three knives, a hatchet, a garrotte and several crude homemade explosive devices all of which failed to explode.[9] On 8 December 2008 Stone was jailed for 16 years for attempting to murder Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams.[10]
See also
- Timeline of Ulster Defence Association actions
- List of massacres in the United Kingdom
References
- ^ "Michael Stone: Loyalist icon". CNN. 24 November 2006. http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/24/michael.stone/. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
- ^ "Stone Murdered At Funeral". Sky News. 24 November 2006. http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1241896,00.html. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
- ^ Palace Barracks Memorial Garden, accessed 27/09/06
- ^ Independent
- ^ New York Times report published: 25 March 1988, accessed 29/09/06
- ^ BBC News
- ^ Independent
- ^ McKittrick, David (1999). Lost Lives. Mainstream Publishing Company Ltd, pp. 1211-1212. ISBN 184018227 X
- ^ "Stone convicted of SF murder bids". BBC News. 14 November 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7729744.stm. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
- ^ Stone Is Jailed After Murder Plot
External links
- Milltown Cemetery Killings — from the CAIN project at the University of Ulster
- Photograph - People ducking as Stone shoots Belfast Telegraph archives
The Troubles Participants in the Troubles Chronology Political Parties Republican
paramilitariesSecurity forces of the United Kingdom
Loyalist
paramilitaries• Ulster Defence Association
• Ulster Volunteer Force
• Loyalist Volunteer Force
• Red Hand Commandos
• Young Citizen Volunteers
• Ulster Young Militants
• Ulster Resistance
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Linked to
• Some RUC and British Army members• Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association formed (1967)
• Battle of the Bogside (1969)
• Riots across Northern Ireland (1969)
• Beginning of Operation Banner (1969)
• Social Democratic and Labour Party formed (1970)
• Internment without trial begins with Operation Demetrius (1971)
• Bloody Sunday by British Army (1972)
• Northern Ireland government dissolved. Direct rule from London begins (1972)
• Bloody Friday by Provisional IRA (1972)
• Power sharing Northern Ireland Assembly set up with SDLP and Ulster Unionist Party in power (1973)
• Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape. Three Provisional IRA prisoners escape from Mountjoy Prison by helicopter (1973)
• Ulster Workers' Council strike causes power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly to end (1974)
• Dublin and Monaghan bombings by UVF with alleged British Army assistance (1974)
• Kingsmill massacre by South Armagh Republican Action Force (1976)
• Warrenpoint Ambush by Provisional IRA (1979)
• 1981 Irish hunger strike by Provisional IRA and INLA members (1981)
• Hunger striker Bobby Sands elected MP. Marks turning point as Sinn Féin begins to move towards electoral politics (1981)
• Maze Prison escape. 38 Provisional IRA prisoners escape from H-Block 7 of HM Prison Maze (1983)
• Brighton hotel bombing by Provisional IRA (1984)
• Anglo-Irish Agreement between British and Irish governments (1985)
• Remembrance Day bombing by Provisional IRA (1987)
• Peace Process begins (1988)
• Operation Flavius, Milltown Cemetery attack and Corporals killings (1988)
• Bishopsgate bombing (1993)
• Downing Street Declaration (1993)
• First Provisional IRA ceasefire (1994)
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• Docklands bombing (1996)
• 1996 Manchester bombing (1996)
• Second Provisional IRA ceasefire (1997)
• Good Friday Agreement (1998) signals the end of the Troubles
• Assembly elections held, with SDLP and UUP winning most seats (1998)
• Omagh bombing by dissident Real IRA (1998)• Unionist parties:
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• Nationalist parties:
• Democratic Left
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• Cross-community parties:
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The Troubles at WikinewsCategories:- Terrorist incidents in 1988
- History of Belfast
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- Ulster Defence Association
- People killed by loyalist paramilitaries
- Murder in 1988
- 1988 in Northern Ireland
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