Bloody Sunday 50: Timeline from Civil Rights to Saville’s report in Derry

February 1967 - The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) is formed to demand reforms including an end to housing and employment discrimination, gerrymandering, ‘one man, one vote’, an end to the ‘B-Specials’ and the Special Powers Act.
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March 1968 - A meeting of the Londonderry Corporation is broken up after the recently formed Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC) arrived and protested over a lack of housing and discrimination, followed by other protests in and around the city centre.

October 5 1968 - A civil rights march from Duke Street in the Waterside organised by DHAC with the backing of NICRA is held despite being banned days before. Many of those attending are injured after the crowd was batoned by the RUC in scenes which spark outrage across Ireland. Rioting ensues, and days later thousands of Queen’s University students in Belfast hold a sit-down after they are stopped as they tried to march in protest over the events in Derry, where the Derry Citizen’s Action Committee (DCAC) is being formulated from several protest organisations, with Ivan Cooper and John Hume as chair and vice-chair.

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October 1968 - Taoiseach Jack Lynch goes to London to meet the British Prime Minister and called for an end to Partition.

John Hume speaks to the army during the anti-internment march at Magilligan Strand the weekend before Bloody Sunday.John Hume speaks to the army during the anti-internment march at Magilligan Strand the weekend before Bloody Sunday.
John Hume speaks to the army during the anti-internment march at Magilligan Strand the weekend before Bloody Sunday.

November 1968 - A points system towards public housing is agreed to by Londonderry Corporation. Ian Paisley is among the leaders of a Loyalist Parade in Derry city centre. The NI Home Affairs Minister William Craig issued a ban on all marchers except certain parades, resulting in Loyal Order parades being permitted but civil rights marches being banned, which is defied when thousands march and hold a sit-down protest in Derry city centre. A programme of reforms is announced by NI Prime Minister Terence O’Neill which sees a development commission take over from Londonderry Corporation amid pledges to tackle other issues such as housing allocation, voting reform and the abolition of the Special Powers Act.

January 1969 - The People’s Democracy march from Belfast to Derry takes place, inspired by Martin Luther King, and on its final leg is attacked by Loyalists at Burntollet Bridge. Over a dozen people are hospitalised. Marchers are attacked again in the Waterside and a rally in the city centre to welcome the marchers is dispersed by the RUC, after which there is rioting in the city.

April 1969 - Bernadette Devlin (21) is elected MP for Mid-Ulster.

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July 1969 - New NI PM Chichester-Clark brings in the ‘B-Specials’ and the annual Apprentice Boys parade is given the go ahead. The Battle of the Bogside erupts, with water canons and CS gas deployed by the RUC. Rioting spreads to other areas of the north. Taoiseach Jack Lynch in a televised address warns: “It is clear also that the Irish Government can no longer stand by and see innocent people injured and perhaps worse.... We have also asked the British Government to see to it that police attacks on the people of Derry should cease immediately. Very many people have been injured and some of them seriously. We know that many of these do not wish to be treated in Six County hospitals. We have, therefore, directed the Irish Army authorities to have field hospitals established in County Donegal adjacent to Derry and at other points along the Border where they may be necessary.”

March- April 1970 - A new Act disarms the RUC and the RUC reserve force and the Police Authority of Northern Ireland (PANI) are established. The ‘B-Specials’ are officially disbanded and the UDR created.

July 1970 - A six month ban on parades is announced by Stormont government. The SDLP is founded under leader Gerry Fitt and the deputy leader John Hume.

November 1970 -The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) comes into being.

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August 1971 - Internment - raids across the north see over 300 people taken to camps. The British army paratroopers are sent into Belfast and 10 civilians were shot dead in Ballymurphy. Thousands of Catholics are forced to flee their homes. A 22-year-old UDR soldier is shot dead by the IRA outside Clady, near Strabane. Over 100 Councillors withdraw involvement over internment.

The army and anti-internment protesters at Magilligan Strand the weekend before Bloody Sunday.The army and anti-internment protesters at Magilligan Strand the weekend before Bloody Sunday.
The army and anti-internment protesters at Magilligan Strand the weekend before Bloody Sunday.

September 1971 - Ian Paisley and Desmond Boal launch DUP. Stormont parliament begins but SDLP do not attend and assemble in Strabane. A civil disobedience campaign in protest against Internment gathers pace and five MPs, including John Hume and Bernadette Devlin, begin a two day hunger strike in London.

November 1971 - Compton Inquiry rejects claims of torture / systematic brutality of internees.

January 18, 1972 - NI PM Brian Faulkner bans parades and marches for the year.

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January 22, 1972 - People taking part in an anti-internment march at Magilligan strand stopped by Green Jackets and the Parachute Regiment, beaten and fired upon with rubber bullets and CS gas.

The Relatives of the victims of Bloody Sunday rip up the old  Widgery Report as they get the news they were waiting for from the Saville inquiry on June 15, 2010. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker PressThe Relatives of the victims of Bloody Sunday rip up the old  Widgery Report as they get the news they were waiting for from the Saville inquiry on June 15, 2010. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press
The Relatives of the victims of Bloody Sunday rip up the old Widgery Report as they get the news they were waiting for from the Saville inquiry on June 15, 2010. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

January 24, 1972 RUC notifies army the NICRA had confirmed a non-violent demonstration protesting against Internment on 30 January 1972. General Ford placed Derek Wilford, Commander of 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment, in charge of a proposed arrest operation.

January 28, 1972 - NICRA calls for a peaceful, trouble free day after violence inflicted at Magilligan.

January 30, 1972 - ‘Bloody Sunday’ - March moves off from Creggan and is directed onto Rossvile Street and Free Derry Corner past an army barricade set up at William Street. Within an hour of the Paratroop regiment opening fire 13 boys are fatally wounded and a further 13 men and women are injured from gunshots. No soldiers are injured.

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January 31, 1972 - House of Commons told by British Home Secretary army only returned fire directed at them. An Inquiry is announced.

February 2, 1972 - Requiem Mass and burial for 11 of those killed is held at St Mary’s Church in Creggan in Derry. Tens of thousands attend while prayers are said across Ireland and almost all workers in Dublin strike and tens of thousands march to the British embassy in the capital.

February 21, 1972- Widgery Tribunal first session begins in Coleraine.

Relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday emerge from the Guildhall holding the report (PressEye)Relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday emerge from the Guildhall holding the report (PressEye)
Relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday emerge from the Guildhall holding the report (PressEye)

April 18, 1972 - The Widgery Report published and is branded a ‘whitewash’ by the people of Derry and beyond.

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June 16, 1972 - John Johnson (59) who had been shot twice on ‘Bloody Sunday’ dies from the injuries he received.

August 1972 - RUC / DPP files concluded no British forces to be prosecuted over what happened in Derry.

January 1887 - Author Don Mullan publishes Eyewitness Bloody Sunday: The Truth with new evidence about the killings.

January 1998 - After a decades long campaign led by the Bloody Sunday families, Tony Blair announced a new Inquiry days after Taoiseach Bertie Ahern adds his voice to calls for one to be held.

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April 1998 - The Saville Tribunal opens at the Guildhall in Derry.

June 15 2010 - Thousands stand with the Bloody Sunday families as they gather at the Guildhall for the findings as the world’s media descends on Derry. The crowds cheer as some of the relatives signalled a thumbs up through small windows in the Guildhall. David Cameron branded the killings ‘unjustified and unjustifiable’ as he issued a State apology from the House of Commons.

*For a more comprehensive list of events during this era see the Ulster University CAIN website: cain.ulster.ac.uk/events/bsunday/bs.htm