Bloody Sunday prosecution

[Somerville]

Only one man will be prosecuted for murdering civilians at the Bloody Sunday civil rights march.

The long-delayed inquiry found that all the killings were unjustified, that every adult and child who was killed had been unarmed, and that no warnings were gven before soldiers opened fire.

British justice at it's finest, eh?

No thank god I'm not. I was at Harrods though as a young teen when the bomb went off. The horror of that day won't ever leave. Am I not allowed to want anyone responsible for that to be brought to justice?

Two men were convicted of the Harrods bomb. Funny, I’d have thought that you’d know that, seeing as you were caught up in it and feel so strongly about it.

Imissgmichael
Have you read the Saville report? We’re in this strange no man’s land, since 2010, where those legal findings were clear that various soldiers fired without provocation on unarmed civilians. And also that they lied about it in immediate aftermath. So the fact that they did that isn’t in doubt. However the terms of the inquiry meant that the specific evidence can’t be used in court.
Nevertheless I’ve seen no-one say that because we already have the evidence of guilt from Saville Inquiry they should be locked up without trial. We need the trial - to open up the issue of commanding officers, as much as anything else.
The fact that it’s taken 9 years since publication of the report for this designing to be taken has caused more harm to the families involved. People fear they were losing evidence as fast as they could.

That’s what worries me. Only one low ranking soldier to face trial.

LadyGregorysToothbrush

Yes I know? And your point is (other than disbelieving me obviously).

The bomb was planted by the IRA - why is it so wrong of me to want everyone involved to face justice and to serve their full sentence? The 2 men who planted the bomb aren't the only 2 involved in the planning, planting, building, funding of it are they?

Am I not allowed to want anyone responsible for that to be brought to justice?

Weetabix the above does totally make it sound like you think no one was brought to justice for that bombing.

Of course it could just be a mis-choosing of words.......

why is it so wrong of me to want everyone involved to face justice and to serve their full sentence?

As has already been suggested, it’s impolite to de-rail a thread on another subject by banging on and on about something else. Go start a thread about the injustice of On The Run letters or whatever you’re so angry about. (You’ll find you get sympathy for that position from some of us.) But this thread is about Bloody Sunday and you need to stop de-railing it.

Yes, the derailing of this thread is pretty low tbh. Funnily enough, one of the posters here spent almost a whole day derailing another unrelated thread the other day.

Aye right Weetabix. I won’t be responding to you any more as I don’t believe you’re posting in good faith.

Did anyone else listen to those phone recordings from the day? How on earth can there be no prosecutions of senior officers for the deaths?

I very much hope for many prosecutions for perjury; I cannot understand the psyche of someone who cares about their country enough to join its armed forces, and then despises its law
enough to break it by lying for 40 years.

Honestly, why ask a question and then when someone answers you accuse them of de railling?

And who was brought to justice for the bombing?

My mother narrowly avoided being blown up by the UVF in Dublin in 1974. She was on Talbot Street when the bomb went off outside Guineys. If she had left work one minute earlier she would have been caught up in it. She witnessed utter carnage that day.

The 4 bombs that went off that day killed 34 people, the highest death toll of the whole conflict. Nobody was ever brought to justice. The inquiry found that British security forces were highly likely to have assisted the UVF in preparing the bombs, but the British government is to this day refusing to release key documents.

Just to give some balance for some of the British posters who seem to think the conflict was IRA v the 'heroic' British Army.

How come people in Britain seem to know nothing about the deadliest incident of the troubles, which was carried out by loyalist paramilitaries (apparently supported by the British forces) on innocent Irish people? How come all you hear about in Britain is the IRA? Why is there not a scandal over the apparent cover up by British authorities?

The families of any and all victims should have their day in court. Unfortunately it doesn't always happen, but that doesn't mean we ignore cases of blatant murder by the army.

Weetabix has every right to comment. The soldiers responsible for Bloody Sunday should face justice but so should all the terrorists who have evaded justice. The two issues are linked and I don’t understand why some people can’t see that. You can’t prosecute one person for an atrocity whilst letting others off. It’s immoral.

And who was brought to justice for the bombing?

The two men you referred to in your post upthread?

The Dublin/Monaghan bombing is wilfully ignored, Sakura. It’s sickening.

The Road To Derry

Along Glenshane and Foreglen
and the cold woods of Hillhead:
A wet wind in the hedges and a dark cloud on the mountain
And flags like black frost
mourning that the thirteen men were dead
The Roe wept at Dungiven and the Foyle cried out to heaven,
Burntollet’s old wound opened and again the Bogside bled;
By Shipquay Gate I shivered and by Lone Moor I enquired
Where I might find the coffins where the thirteen men lay dead.
My heart besieged by anger, my mind a gap of danger.
I walked among their old haunts.
the home ground where they bled;
And in the dirt lay justice like an acorn in the winter
Till its oak would sprout in Derry
where the thirteen men lay dead.

Séamus Heaney

That’s horrible Sakura but I don’t think anyone’s saying murder by the Army should be ignored.

How come people in Britain seem to know nothing about the deadliest incident of the troubles, which was carried out by loyalist paramilitaries (apparently supported by the British forces) on innocent Irish people? How come all you hear about in Britain is the IRA? Why is there not a scandal over the apparent cover up by British authorities?

I think many people on the west coast of Scotland were well aware. I think to be fair if I lived and England and was only aware of the bombs planted on my own soil I would blame the IRA. Why many never thought through why the IRA were willing to carry out the bombings in England is odd. But, with no internet and a press reporting on the evil IRA and painting catholics from NI in a particular light didn’t help.

I know this is a generalisation but I really don’t think most English people understand sectarianism or the prejudice towards catholics, not just in NI but in Scotland too.

And who was brought to justice for the bombing?

A quick Google will tell you that. As I'm sure you are well aware.

Sakura7
That is terrible and of course everyone responsible should be brought to justice.

I know the GFA was instrumental in bringing peace but there seem to be so many atrocities, on all sides, that still need proper investigation. yet it feels like the GFA drew a line under it with the expectation that people should move on.

From a justice perspective that doesn't feel right but then I guess the people most affected by it agreed to it.

BeGoodTanya

Does it? For the 1983 bombing?

That’s horrible Sakura but I don’t think anyone’s saying murder by the Army should be ignored.

But that's exactly what you're saying on this thread. That this soldier should not be brought to justice because of the GFA amnesties.

Sakura because the UK as a whole is still pretty anti-Catholic, I reckon.

That poem is beautiful and harrowing, OP.

Does it? For the 1983 bombing?

Which bombing were you caught up in?

There were theee bombings I know of that are sometimes described as a bombing at Harrods, and I think this has lead to confusion. Which, frankly, is why I think it’s a discussion for another thread.

three

The 1993 Harrods bomb.