UK - NORTHERN IRELAND: 1972 WORST YEAR YET

[Music] one [Music] a year when threats became realities when death itself became a cliche the worst year of slaughter since the present emergency first spewed violence across the province five years ago the death toll in northern ireland in 1972 reached 467 more than three times the total for the three preceding years put together that statistic alone could be seen as the most significant illustration of how far ulster has gone towards the precipice which so many have forecast is awaiting it the prospect for 1973 seems bleak indeed it was a year of illusion and disillusion of sudden hopes and equally sudden disappointments it began badly on the last sunday in january catholic civil rights marches defied a government ban on parades and came into violent conflict with british troops in the center of londonderry [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the rioting became so bad that paratroops were finally sent through the barricades to restore order shooting began and within half an hour 13 civilians all of them catholics were shot dead by british troops the troops claimed they'd shot back in self-defense at snipers who'd started the shooting and the judicial inquiry later cleared them of the charge that they'd fired indiscriminately into a fleeing crowd but the findings simply weren't believed by the catholics of londonderry for them the troops were murderers and the dead were martyrs and the events of that confused afternoon became indelibly engraved on catholic consciences in the phrase bloody sunday south of the border in the predominantly catholic republic of era anger outweighed sympathy and expressed itself in the burning down of the british embassy in dublin by an angry crowd [Applause] relations between the british and irish governments always tense over ulster's affairs were now stretched almost to breaking point [Applause] in the aftermath of the londonderry shootings any faith which northern ireland's catholics had previously retained in the neutrality of british troops in ulster's sectarian struggle quickly evaporated the development that bolstered support for the ira which many catholics saw as their only means of defense against both the protestants and the british army the ira itself said the londonderry deaths would be avenged and it began a campaign of terror bombings throughout the province hardly a day passed without some act of violence and on february 22nd the campaign moved to england the ira's target was the paratroops headquarters at aldershot in southern england just before lunchtime a bomb exploded in a parked car just outside the officer's mess the building was wrecked and seven people including a roman catholic padre were killed after a long police hunt three people were tried and convicted for complicity in the incident and an ira explosives expert received a life sentence for murder meanwhile in northern ireland itself the bombings were setting new records in horror this was the scene outside the abacorn restaurant in belfast on march the 4th a bomb had exploded inside the restaurant while it was full of people two women were killed and 136 injured many of them severely a 22 year old woman for example lost both legs and an arm her sister also lost a leg it was the worst bomb outrage in northern ireland since the emergency began no organization claimed responsibility for it though the army believed the provisional ira were to blame two weeks later even this new threshold of violence was surpassed on march 20th a 100-pound gelignite bomb exploded in a car parked in donegal street a crowded belfast shopping area the toll here amounted to six dead and 147 injured only a few minutes before the bomb went off the police received an anonymous phone call claiming there was a bomb in the area but in a neighboring street and many shoppers had moved into donegal street for greater safety the police claimed the false information had been deliberately given to get as many people as possible into donegal street before the bomb there exploded [Music] the escalating violence and the deepening involvement of british troops trying to keep order finally convinced the british government in london that it should take over complete responsibility for ulster's affairs at the end of march the provincial government and assembly at stormont near belfast was dismissed and direct rule imposed from westminster a move that had been on the cards ever since british troops first came to ulster but it was carried out against the wishes of northern ireland's prime minister brian faulkner this is a serious and sad situation reached after three years of the most strenuous efforts to reform our society on a basis at once fair and realistic i thought that by our actions and by our attitude we had earned the right to the confidence and the support of the united kingdom government i fear too that many people will draw a sinister and depressing message from these events that violence can pay that violence does pay that those who shout lie denigrate and even destroy earn for themselves an attention that responsible conduct and honorable behavior do not they may ask if belfast is to bow to violence today where will it be next year birmingham glasgow london we will continue to a certain defend in other lawful ways the legitimate interests of the great majority of ulster people and so i ask our people at this difficult and trying time to remain calm and on no account to be led by unwise agitation into any possible confrontation with the security forces which have been making such tremendous sacrifices on our behalf we will work with total determination and with utter firmness but responsibly and under the law to ensure that the voice of the ulster majority which is not a sectarian majority but a majority of responsible people loyal to the crown is heard loud and clear throughout the land initial reaction among northern ireland's protestants to the imposition of direct rule was predictably angry nearly 200 000 protestant workers came out on strike and many of them marched in protest through belfast streets after all the protestants had dominated every northern ireland government and parliament since the province achieved home rule over 50 years previously and the decision to impose direct rule from london was inevitably a judgment of no confidence in their record the catholics of course the downfall of the protestant government was a major victory and the move prompted a favorable reaction in the republic of era from prime minister jack lynch when i let us confine ourselves to the immediate purpose i have been hoping that such a step would be taken in order to [Music] bring peace with justice in northern ireland and i don't think i'd be inconsistent in fact i'd be very inconsistent if i said otherwise then we regard uh all these measures as a step towards the ultimate unification of the irish people that they all can live in understanding and peace and in harmony the man now in charge in northern ireland was the newly appointed secretary of state for the province william whitelaw within weeks of arriving he was touring catholic areas in londonderry assuring everyone that his main aim was to conciliate and to remove the catholics distrust of the government that it accumulated so rapidly in the preceding months well i'd like very much to do that and you tell some of these people that you hear that just yes i would love to come everybody's welcoming well i would love to come there what these walkabouts confirmed was the catholics total opposition to the policy of internment the detention without trial of people suspected of fostering unrest or terrorism all the internees were catholic and in the course of the year over 600 of them were released a concession mr whitelaw hoped would persuade catholic politicians to urge on their supporters the necessity for political reconciliation the scaling down of internment incensed many protestants who believed that those released would simply rejoin the ranks of ira gunmen mr whitelaw argued that his policy would increase the chances of peace i wanted to make my contribution to what i believe to be a mood for peace amongst the vast majority of the people of northern ireland i sense it people have spoken up against the government i welcome it this is my contribution to a lessening of tension is also a fulfillment of the promise which the prime minister made when we took our initiative last week but by releasing these internees aren't you uh taking a considerable risk i believe in seeking to get back to a normal peaceful community of course there are risks in any action that is taken but at the same time i believe the dangers of inaction are far greater if i am going to appeal to the mood of the people who want peace this i believe is the way in which i should proceed i also believe that if you are going to have a normal peaceful community must be based on trust i am trusting these people that i let out and i believe they will not betray my trust releasing the internees was a relatively simple task for mr whitelaw a much tougher problem was what to do about the so-called no-go areas whole catholic districts behind barricades where the law of the land simply didn't apply and apparently couldn't be enforced the main no-go area was in the bog side and craig districts of londonderry called free dairy by its 30 000 inhabitants this was virtually a state within a state policed by ira gunmen who could quickly move on to the offensive if the british army approached too close but at the end of july the troops did move in in force and drove the ira out by that time there'd been some sinister developments among the protestants the appearance of private working class armies chief among them the ulster defense association or uda watched uneasily by the army these protestant vigilante groups with their own arms and uniforms spent the summer drilling and training in the streets of belfast uda officers often dealt harshly with any ill-disciplined recruits [Applause] the uda often sees buses and other vehicles for use in their own roadblocks the organization claimed it had 25 000 men ready to take up arms at a moment's notice and another 50 000 in reserve there were some tense confrontations with the british troops across the barricades but on most occasions a compromise solution was worked out [Music] the uda threatened to march into the catholic no-go areas but tension eased when the british army did this for them even so at the end of the year the uda was still legal still in uniform and still armed [Music] mr whitelaw's first months in office altered catholic attitudes and made possible the most hopeful development of the year a ceasefire by the ira including the militant provisionals the first sign that things were improving came at the beginning of june when two women collected forty thousand catholic signatures to a petition condemning violence and presented them to mr whitelaw at the end of the month the ira offered a ceasefire mr whitelaw accepted and actually went as far as to meet ira leaders secretly in london early in july but unfortunately the ceasefire lasted only two weeks thank you very much thank you very much it came to an end in this confrontation between troops and catholics on a housing estate in belfast uh the catholics were trying to resettle homeless catholic families in houses vacated by protestants on the estate the army refused to let them pass then the stones began flying and they were soon followed by bullets [Applause] on the day the ceasefire ended six people including a girl and a catholic priest were shot dead in belfast [Applause] for the next 10 days fierce gun battles were fought out between the army and the ira the terrorist bombings were resumed reaching a climax in a day of unprecedented savagery in belfast july 21st now known to the city's inhabitants is bloody friday within the space of half an hour in the middle of the afternoon no fewer than 20 large bombs exploded in various parts of the city 11 people were killed in 120 injured many very seriously and the damage to property was enormous no warnings were given and the targets including a railway station a shopping center and three bus stations seem to have been chosen precisely because they would be crowded with people at that time of day in parliament mr whitelaw said the ira had degraded the human race by such violent acts and promised never to talk with its representatives again [Music] but it wasn't just the violence of bombs that destroyed hopes of peace in 1972 a new insidious form of violence made its appearance apparently motiveless murders and sectarian killings there were 30 in july alone and by the end of the year 122 people two-thirds of them catholics had been assassinated they included five men gunned down in this londonderry bar five days before christmas [Music] troops and police remained virtually helpless in trying to solve these crimes all their inquiries met with a curtain of silence in northern ireland today people are too frightened to be seen talking to the security forces the most significant event south of the border was the dublin government's decision to move against the ira sean mcstefan leader of the provisionals was arrested tried and sentenced to six months imprisonment he went on hunger strike vowing to starve himself to death but in fact broke his fast after several days by taking drinks and dublin itself did not escape the blast of violence at the beginning of december two people were killed in this explosion two days later the irish parliament passed far-reaching legislation covering offenses against the state but mr lynch's government still held back from making widespread arrests of ira members 1972 drew to a close with over 20 000 british troops still patrolling northern ireland they had a hard time of it throughout the year even if they did score some real victories against the ira but the british government knows that the eventual solutions in ulster will have to be political not military and it's promised a long-term political plan for the spring of this year the details are not known yet but there's talk of a new assembly elected under proportional representation which should give catholics a larger say in the government of the province the trouble is that the present violence has gone beyond the quest for civil rights it's rooted in the ira's desire to achieve not a just ulster but a united ireland britain on the other hand is determined that the province will not be forced into a union with the south against the wishes of its protestant majority there is therefore no guarantee that the coming year will be any less violent than the one that's just passed you

Channel: AP Archive

Views: 544,528

Keywords: AP Archive, w009653, 194d8cbab5e22da5db55dbfa09dc8e0c, 5.1.73, 7301A, NEW, ROVING REPORT, ROVING REPORT NORTHERN IRELAND, United Kingdom, Western Europe, Northern Ireland, Belfast, General news

Id: tDridUlwHiY

Length: 22min 4sec (1324 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 10 2020