It’s a strange day for the Northern Irish city of Derry. It celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a dramatic day when British soldiers opened fire on a crowd of peaceful, unarmed demonstrators. Fourteen innocent people lost their lives that day… creating horror and incomprehension forever.
The event took place on January 30, 1972. But it’s still very much alive in people’s minds.
Whether in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, this dramatic episode still haunts the subconscious of Irish society…
The Bloody Sunday of 1972 tops the list of the worst moments in the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Even then, tensions were at their highest. Conflicts of identity between Catholics and Protestants, Republicans and Unionists have placed the city of Derry under a blanket of darkness. The two camps clash over opposing ideologies. And Republican Catholics regularly feel discriminated against.
This is why, on January 30 1972, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (known as NICRA) decided to organize a march for the civil rights of republican Catholics. Their aim is simple: to protest against the inequalities they suffer.
The procession then marched through the city, in a climate of high tension, under British military supervision.
Unfortunately, the peace march quickly degenerated. Insults were hurled at the British army, as were stone-throwing.
From then on, things escalated, and the first shot was heard. A demonstrator falls to the ground, causing shock and awe in the crowd.
The event got out of control: the crowd burst into flames and the soldiers fired a series of shots, killing 14 people and wounding 11 others.
The responsibility of the British army has long been ignored by London. It took a trial launched in the 1990s, at the initiative of Tony Blair, to finally rule on their guilt in 2010.
A situation that began to fuel passions and anger in both camps.
Today, although Northern Irish society has learned to live more serenely thanks to the 1998 Peace Process, the ghost of Bloody Sunday remains. A ghost that seems even more pregnant when combined with the current Brexit.
For Northern Ireland seems deeply divided on the issue: for some, the Brexit sounds like a simple confirmation of Northern Ireland’s membership of Great Britain… For others, it sounds like England taking Northern Ireland hostage economically, culturally and in terms of identity. It further distances the province from the Republic of Ireland and its potential affiliation with Europe…
Loyalists and republicans (the latter in favor of a reunited Ireland) are constantly at each other’s throats. A highly tense situation, which could unfortunately degenerate… 50 years after Bloody Sunday.
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