The Troubles in Derry

The Northern Irish city of Derry, also known as Londonderry, was severely affected by the Northern Irish Troubles. The conflict is widely considered to have begun in the city, with many regarding the Battle of the Bogside (an inner suburb of the city) as the beginning of the Troubles. The 'Bloody Sunday' incident of 1972 also occurred in Derry. A total of 227 people were killed in Derry during the conflict. [ [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/tables/Location.html Sutton Index of Deaths: Deaths by Geographical Location.] ]

Background

Derry has a long history of sectarian tension and violence. In particular, the city is known as the site of the Siege of Derry of 1689, in which the Protestant supporters of William III of England held out against the mostly Catholic supporters of James II of England for 105 days. The siege became an icon of Ulster Protestant culture, and since the early nineteenth century has been annually commemorated by the Apprentice Boys of Derry. Although Catholics had previously participated in ceremonies in honour of the Williamite victory, many regarded the Apprentice Boys' celebrations, particularly their parades, as triumphalist and sectarian. In the mid nineteenth century an investigation into riots in the city resulted in the recommendation that the Apprentice Boys' parades be banned. Despite the opposition of the British government, the parades continued.

When Northern Ireland became a separate state in 1922, Protestants/unionists were the majority and controlled the government of Northern Ireland. Although Catholics were a clear majority of the Derry population, severe gerrymandering meant that unionists controlled the city government. [cite book|last=Whyte|first=John|title=Contemporary Irish Studies|editor=Gallagher, Tom; O'Connell, James|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester|year=1983|chapter=How much discrimination was there under the unionist regime, 1921-68?|isbn=0719009197|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/discrimination/whyte.htm#chap1] Like councils elsewhere (nationalist as well as unionist, although unionists controlled more councils), unionist local politicians used their power to disproportionately allocate jobs and houses to Protestants. Although working class people from both communities suffered from poor housing and unemployment, Catholics were significantly more likely to live in crowded and generally inadequate housing and to lack jobs. In particular, working class Catholics were concentrated in the Bogside, an overcrowded suburb under the city walls. The housing situation was caused in part by unionist politicians wishing to keep Catholics concentrated in a small number of electoral wards, thus confining the nationalist vote to these wards. It was also felt that the Northern Irish government favoured the predominantly Protestant east of the country over the predominantly Catholic west. Both Protestant and Catholic residents of Derry were angered by issues such as the reduction of rail services and the siting of the University of Ulster in Coleraine rather than Derry, but Catholics also saw this as sectarian discrimination.

Civil rights and city riots

In the late 1960s several groups were formed to campaign against discrimination against Catholics. These included the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) and the Derry Housing Action Committee. These groups had strong links with nationalist and republican groups and although their focus was on rectifying injustice rather than abolishing partition, they were seen by many unionists as a front for republicanism. On 5 October 1968 these groups organised a march through the centre of Derry. Because of the political and sectarian connotations of parades in Northern Ireland, loyalists saw this as a republican claim on their iconic city, and the demonstration was banned. The marchers went ahead anyway and were batoned by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Further mass demonstrations and marches carried on in and around Derry, despite rising tension and sporadic bans.

In January 1969, a march by the radical group People's Democracy from Belfast to Derry was attacked by loyalists at Burntollet, five miles outside Derry. When the marchers (many of whom were injured) arrived in Derry on January 5, rioting broke out between their supporters and the RUC, who were seen to have failed to protect the march. That night, RUC members broke into homes in the Catholic Bogside area and assaulted several residents. An inquiry led by Lord Cameron concluded that, "a number of policemen were guilty of misconduct, which involved assault and battery, malicious damage to property...and the use of provocative sectarian and political slogans". [Eamonn McCann, War and an Irish Town, page 108] After this point, barricades were set up in the Bogside and vigilante patrols organised to keep the RUC out. It was at this point that famous mural with the slogan "You are now entering Free Derry" was painted on the corner of Columbs street by a local activist named John Casey.

In April, the first fatal attack arising out of the violence between nationalists and the RUC in Derry occurred. A local man, Samuel Devenny, was badly beaten with batons by RUC members who broke into his home after a riot in the Bogside on April 19, 1969. His teenage daughters were also beaten in the attack. Deveny died from his injuries on July 17 [ [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch69.htm CAIN Chronology of the Conflict - 1969] ] and is sometimes referred to as the first victim of the troubles. [ [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch69.htm CAIN Chronology of the Conflict - 1969] ]

After further rioting on July 12 ("The Twelfth"), arising out of the Orange Order parades on that day, republicans in Derry set up the Derry Citizens Defence Association, with the intention of preparing for future disturbances. The members of the DCDA were initially Republican Club (and possibly IRA) activists, but they were joined by many other left-wing activists and local people. This group stated their aim as firstly to keep the peace, but if this failed, to organise the defence of the Bogside. To this end, they stockpiled materials for barricades and missiles, ahead of the Apprentice Boys march on August 12.

After further rioting on July 12, arising out of the Orange Order parades on that day, Irish republicans in Derry set up the Derry Citizens Defence Association, with the intention of preparing for future disturbances. The members of the DCDA were initially Republican Club (and possibly IRA) activists, but they were joined by many other left-wing activists and local people. This group stated their aim as firstly to keep the peace, but if this failed, to organise the defence of the Bogside. To this end, they stockpiled materials for barricades and missiles, ahead of the Apprentice Boys of Derry march on August 12.

The Battle of the Bogside

The Apprentice Boys annually paraded on 12 August to commemorate the lifting of the Siege of Derry. The extreme tension of the time meant that trouble was widely expected, but the Apprentice Boys and similar groups had significant political power and the march was not banned; it is also likely that any such ban would not have been effective. As the parade passed the Catholic Bogside area, stones were thrown by both sides. This escalated into a battle between Bogside reisdents and their supporters on one side and police and loyalists on the other. The police were inadequately trained and equipped for such circumstances, and petrol bombs and other missiles thrown by rioters were met by CS gas and batons from the police, with innocent residents inevitably suffering. Rioting spread to Belfast, leaving six people dead. After two days of nearly continuous rioting, the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, James Chichester-Clarke, took the unprecedented step of requesting the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson for troops to be sent to Derry. Soon afterwards a company of the Prince of Wales Own Regiment relieved the police, with orders to separate the RUC and the Bogsiders, but not to attempt to breach the barricades and enter the Bogside itself. This marked the first direct intervention of the London government in Ireland since partition. The British troops were at first welcomed by most Bogside residents as a neutral force. Amazingly, no deaths resulted from the 'battle', but it is estimated that more than 1000 people were injured, many of them seriously. The Battle of the Bogside is often regarded as the point at which the Troubles proper began.

The early years of the Troubles

After the Battle of the Bogside, rioting and battles with police occurred in Derry on a semi-regular basis, although until 1971 no one was killed in Derry except a group of people who died after an IRA bomb prematurely detonated in the bomb-maker's home. [ [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/chron/1970.html Sutton Index of Deaths: 1970] ] In February 1971 a British Army soldier died after his vehicle was petrol bombed in the Bogside. In July that year, two rioters in the Bogside were shot dead by soldiers in disputed circumstances.cite book | last = Geraghty | first = Tony | authorlink = Tony Geraghty | title = The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence | publisher = Harper Collins | year = 2000 | pages = p. 45 | doi = | isbn = 978-0006386742] In response, the Provisional Irish Republican Army, which had previously had little profile in Derry, began a campaign of violence in the city. By this stage the level of violence across Northern Ireland was such that the government introduced internment without trial in August 1971. Despite paramilitary violence coming from loyalists as well as republicans, internment was directed almost exclusively against republicans. Widespread rioting resulted, with 21 people being killed in three days of rioting across the country. [cite book | last = English | first = Richard | authorlink = Richard English | title = Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA | publisher = Pan Books | year = 2003 | pages = p. 141 | doi = | isbn = 0-330-49388-4] By December 1971 seven soldiers had been killed in Derry, mostly by the Official or Provisional IRA. The army had also killed several civilians, including 14 year old Annette McGavigan. Extensive barricades were erected in Catholic suburbs of Derry, organised mostly by the two IRAs. These were intended to prevent access to the army, police, and loyalist mobs, and many were impassable even to the British Army's one-ton armoured vehicles. Due to rioting and damage to shops caused by incendiary devices, an estimated total of £4 million worth of damage had been done to local businesses.

References