Bloody Sunday (1972)

Bloody Sunday (1972)

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

Bloody Sunday (Irish: Domhnach na Fola)—sometimes called the Bogside Massacre—was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, in which 26 unarmed civil-rights protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers of the British Army. Thirteen males, seven of whom were teenagers, died immediately or soon after, while the death of another man four-and-a-half months later was attributed to the injuries he received on that day. Two protesters were also injured when they were run down by army vehicles. Five of those wounded were shot in the back. The incident occurred during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march; the soldiers involved were members of the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (1 Para).

Two investigations have been held by the British government. The Widgery Tribunal, held in the immediate aftermath of the event, largely cleared the soldiers and British authorities of blame—Widgery described the soldiers' shooting as "bordering on the reckless"—but was criticised as a "whitewash", including by Jonathan Powell. The Saville Inquiry, chaired by Lord Saville of Newdigate, was established in 1998 to reinvestigate the events. Following a 12-year inquiry, Saville's report was made public on 15 June 2010, and contained findings of fault that could re-open the controversy, and potentially lead to criminal investigations for some soldiers involved in the killings. The report found that all of those shot were unarmed, and that the killings were both "unjustified and unjustifiable." On the publication of the Saville report the British prime minister, David Cameron, made a formal apology on behalf of the United Kingdom.

The Provisional Irish Republican Army's (IRA) campaign against the partition of Ireland had begun in the two years prior to Bloody Sunday, but public perceptions of the day boosted the status of, and recruitment into, the organisation enormously. Bloody Sunday remains among the most significant events in the Troubles of Northern Ireland, chiefly because those who died were shot by the British army rather than paramilitaries, in full view of the public and the press.