1969 Northern Ireland Riots

1969 Northern Ireland Riots

Ireland

  • Battle of the Bogside
  • August 1969 riots
  • Battle of St Matthew's
  • Falls Curfew
  • Scottish soldiers' killings
  • Operation Demetrius
  • Ballymurphy massacre
  • McGurk's bombing
  • Balmoral Furniture Co. bombing
  • Bloody Sunday
  • Abercorn bombing
  • Donegall St bombing
  • Battle at Springmartin
  • Springhill massacre
  • Bloody Friday
  • Operation Motorman
  • Claudy bombing
  • Benny's Bar bombing
  • Dublin bombings
  • Coleraine bombings
  • UWC strike
  • Dublin & Monaghan bombings
  • Miami Showband killings
  • Bayardo Bar
  • Drummuckavall ambush
  • Reavey & O'Dowd killings
  • Kingsmill massacre
  • Flagstaff incident
  • Chlorane Bar
  • Ramble Inn
  • Jonesborough Gazelle downing
  • La Mon bombing
  • Warrenpoint ambush
  • Dunmurry explosion
  • Nellie M
  • 1981 Hungerstrike
  • Glasdrumman ambush
  • St Bedan
  • Ballykelly bombing
  • Maze Prison escape
  • Newry barracks
  • Ballygawley barracks
  • Loughgall ambush
  • Enniskillen bombing
  • Milltown Cemetery
  • Corporals killings
  • Lisburn van bomb
  • Ballygawley bus bomb
  • 1989 Jonesborough ambush
  • Derryard checkpoint
  • Derrygorry Gazelle shootdown
  • Operation Conservation
  • RFA Fort Victoria
  • 1990 proxy bombs
  • 1991 Cappagh killings
  • Glenanne barracks
  • Coagh ambush
  • Teebane bombing
  • Bookmakers' shooting
  • Clonoe ambush
  • Cloghoge checkpoint
  • Coalisland riots
  • South Armagh sniper campaign
  • 1993 Castlerock killings
  • Cullaville occupation
  • 1993 Shankill bombing
  • Greysteel massacre
  • Crossmaglen Lynx shootdown
  • Loughinisland massacre
  • Drumcree conflict
  • Thiepval barracks
  • 1997 Coalisland attack
  • July 1997 riots
  • Omagh bombing

Great Britain

  • Aldershot bombing
  • M62 coach bombing
  • Guildford bombings
  • Birmingham bombings
  • Marylebone siege
  • Hyde & Regent's Park bombings
  • Harrods bombing
  • Brighton bombing
  • Deal barracks
  • Downing St attack
  • Warrington bombings
  • Bishopsgate bombing
  • Docklands bombing
  • Manchester bombing

Elsewhere

  • Gibraltar 1988
  • Osnabrück barracks 1996


During 12–17 August 1969, Northern Ireland was rocked by intense political and sectarian rioting. There had been sporadic violence throughout the year arising from the civil rights campaign, which was demanding an end to government discrimination against Irish Catholics and nationalists. Civil rights marches were repeatedly attacked by both Protestant loyalists and by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), an overwhelmingly Protestant police force.

The disorder led to the Battle of the Bogside in Derry – this was a three-day riot in the Bogside district between the RUC and the nationalist/Catholic residents. In support of the Bogsiders, nationalists and Catholics launched protests elsewhere in Northern Ireland. Some of these turned violent and led to attacks by loyalists working alongside the police. The most bloody rioting was in Belfast, where seven people were killed and hundreds more wounded. Scores of houses and businesses were burned-out, most of them owned by Catholics. In addition, thousands of mostly Catholic families were driven from their homes. The RUC was accused of helping the loyalists and of failing to protect Catholic areas. Events in Belfast have been viewed by some as a pogrom against the minority Catholic and nationalist community.

The British Army was deployed to restore order and peace lines began to be built to separate the two sides. The events of August 1969 are widely seen as the beginning of the thirty-year conflict known as the Troubles.

Read more about 1969 Northern Ireland Riots:  Background, Battle of The Bogside, Rioting in Belfast, Disturbances Elsewhere, Reactions, Effects

Famous quotes containing the words northern and/or ireland:

    ‘What is the world, O soldiers?
    It is I,
    I, this incessant snow,
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    Walter De La Mare (1873–1956)

    Out of Ireland have we come,
    Great hatred, little room
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    I carry from my mother’s womb
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    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)