by Noémie (Nov 18, 2005)

In Derry, Northern Ireland, on January 30th 1972, in the afternoon, the NIRCA organised a peaceful demonstration, which was placed under monitoring because a lot of persons were participating. At the corner of William street, a hundred men were waiting and parachutists came to help them. 

At 2 :30 pm, other persons arrived to participate in the demonstration. A couple of hundred teenagers crossed the crowd to reach the head of the procession. At the top of a platform, the leaders shouted to the crowd that they had to meet at Free Derry Corner. Nearly all participants heard it but some of them couldn't hear the new instructions. They stopped and screamed "Let us go, it's our town!". 

Insults and a lot of objects were sent succeeding to the screams. It was just a riot. Soldiers shot rubber bullets.  

At 3 :50 pm, John Johnston and Damien Donaghey fell in William street, hurt by the shooting. People understood that it wasn't a police repression but an organized hunt. The army was shooting real bullets. 14 persons were killed and 11 were hurt.

Among the dead were John Johnston (59), Jack Duddy (17), Mickaël Kelly (17), James Wray (22), Gerald McKinney (26), William Mc Kinney (26), Damiens Donaghey (17), John Young (17), Michaël McDaid (20), William Nash (19), Patrick Doherty (31), Bernard McGuigan (41), Hugh Gilmour (17) and Kevin McElhinney (17). That day, later called "Bloody Sunday", marked the beginning of the civil war in Ireland.

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Jan 13, 2005

I congratulate Noémie for this article. Because we don't talk enough about Bloody Sunday in France and maybe in the rest of Europe. We have to teach it at school (it is not the case in France), and we have also to know that Queen Elisabeth II decorated personallly those responsible for this crime. Don't forget that the crisis in Northern Ireland is not finished whereas England and Eire are members of the EU. Aa Europeans, we have to try to understand their problem and Europe has to get more involved in it. Because with the Queen, hatred between protestants and catholics is not ending.

Florian (Blois, YGTP 2005)

March 5, 2006

I think the article is good, because you describe when the events happened. Maybe we will talk about this today at school but I'm not sure. I think it was a black day for Irish history, and for the people who lived in the corner it was a really sad day. I hope it won't happen in the future.

Pascal (Neuenrade, Germany)