The Falls Curfew (also called the Battle of the Falls or the Rape of the Lower Falls) was a British Army operation during 3–5 July 1970 in an area along the Falls Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The operation started with a weapons search but quickly developed into rioting and gun battles between British soldiers and the Official Irish Republican Army. Shortly after the violence began, the British commander imposed a curfew, which eventually lasted 36 hours. During the curfew, four civilians were killed by the British Army, at least 75 people were wounded (including 15 soldiers) and 337 people were arrested.
Read more about Falls Curfew: Background, Casualties, Results
Famous quotes containing the words falls and/or curfew:
“As the truest society approaches always nearer to solitude, so the most excellent speech finally falls into Silence. Silence is audible to all men, at all times, and in all places. She is when we hear inwardly, sound when we hear outwardly. Creation has not displaced her, but is her visible framework and foil. All sounds are her servants, and purveyors, proclaiming not only that their mistress is, but is a rare mistress, and earnestly to be sought after.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.”
—Thomas Gray (1716–1771)