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:
“We had heard of a Grand Fall on this stream, and thought that each fall we came to must be it, but after christening several in succession with this name, we gave up the search. There were more Grand or Petty Falls than I can remember.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds.”
—Thomas Gray (1716–1771)