Ballymurphy massacre

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Public mural of the Ballymurphy massacre

In the Ballymurphy Massacre ( English Ballymurphy Massacre ), also known in the press as West Belfast's Bloody Sunday , British paratroopers shot dead ten unarmed civilians, including a priest, in Belfast from August 9-11, 1971. Another civilian suffered a fatal heart attack after being threatened by British soldiers. The massacre came shortly after the introduction of no trial internment , which exacerbated the Northern Ireland conflict.

A commission of inquiry came to the conclusion in its final report in 2021 that the killings were completely unjustified.

Operation Demetrius

During the Northern Ireland conflict , the Northern Irish Prime Minister Brian Faulkner relied on an internment policy to pacify Northern Ireland. The aim of this policy was to detain without trial any person believed to have been members of paramilitary organizations fighting Northern Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom and seeking to establish a unified Ireland . In the course of Operation Demetrius , which began in August 1971, 342 people were interned. When the Irish government called the European Commission for Human Rights about torturing the internees, it became known that the highest British authorities had ordered the operation. The smoldering conflict escalated further despite the internment and later ultimately led to the removal of Faulkner and the appointment of a Minister of Northern Ireland to the British government in London.

On the morning of 9 August 1971, a Monday, soldiers from the British Army's Parachute Regiment , a paratrooper unit, shot at civilians in the Ballymurphy ( Irish Baile Uí Mhurchú ) area of ​​Belfast. Paratroopers from the three battalions of the Parachute Regiment deployed in Northern Ireland are credited with 90% of the clearly unlawful killings by the Army during the Northern Ireland conflict.

The victims

August 9, 1971

Ballymurphy Memorial

On August 9, 1971, five people were killed and one later died as a result of these confrontations:

  • Hugh Mullan, 38 years old, a Catholic priest, heard gunshots around 8 a.m. and was shot while rushing to the aid of a gunshot wounded man near Springfield Park. Before going to the injured man, Mullan had telephoned the British military base in Belfast to warn that he would provide first aid.
  • Francis Quinn (19 years old) was shot while trying to help the priest.
  • Noel Phillips, aged 19, was shot injured and later killed by a British soldier in the head with a handgun at Ballymurphy Army Base.
  • Joan Connolly, 50 years old, a mother of eight who tried to help Noel Phillips, was shot in the face.
  • Daniel Teggart (44 years old), the father of a 14-year-old boy who was on his way to see his sister, was killed in 14 shots near the British army base. His son John noted in a newspaper report in 2010 that his father had received numerous bullets in the back.
  • Joseph Murphy (41 years old) was also shot at the army base and died of the consequences three weeks later.

August 10, 1971

One person was killed on August 10, 1971:

  • Edward Doherty, 28 years old, a father of two, was shot dead near a barricade on Whiterock Road.

11th August 1971

On August 11, 1971, two people were killed; two more died as a result of the clashes on August 11:

  • John Laverty, age 20, and Joseph Corr, age 43, father of six, were shot dead on Whiterock Road. The Parachute Regiment stated that they both shot at the paratroopers and were killed in the argument. Joseph Corr died 16 days later of complications from his injuries.
  • John McKerr (49 years old) was shot in front of a Catholic church and died as a result on August 20, 1971.

No British paratrooper was injured. No one has been charged in the Military Tribunal, and the soldiers' identities are kept secret by the British government.

In addition, Paddy McCarthy (44 years old) died of complications from a heart attack. According to his family, he suffered it after being stopped by soldiers on the way to go shopping. An unloaded pistol was held in front of his mouth and the trigger was pulled.

Ballymurphy Massacre Campaign

In 1998, 27 years after the events in which their family members were shot, a conference was held with the participation of four affected families. They met later with the families of Derry , whose unarmed family members after one of the largest studies in the UK have identified as being unarmed and innocent people during the Northern Irish Bloody Sunday also ( "Bloody Sunday") dated January 30, 1972 by paratroopers of the Parachute Regiment shot dead were. On June 15, 2010, British Prime Minister David Cameron asked for forgiveness on behalf of the government for the actions of British soldiers on Bloody Sunday in Derry, after those killed had been proven innocent.

Unable to receive answers to their questions from the British government, the families of the dead in Ballymurphy requested an independent international investigation or an apology or declaration of innocence from the British government.

John Teggert, the son of Daniel Teggert, who was killed in Ballyworth, drew parallels with Bloody Sunday in Derry, because there, too, at the beginning of the shootings, a pastor who helped an injured man was shot, even though he waved a white towel. The process was documented by a television cameraman and broadcast worldwide. There, too, injured people lying on the ground were shot. Therefore, according to Teggert, it is suspected that Bloody Sunday was committed six months later by the same unit or the same paratroopers. Teggert called for an international investigation.

The families were supported in their campaign by Gerry Adams , House of Commons elected for West Belfast from Sinn Féin , and the Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor . The National Conference of Trades Union Council also met in May 2010 to call for justice for the families of Ballymurphy.

Legal review from 2018

From November 2018 a new legal investigation began. The events were treated in their entirety and not as individual cases, as in previous investigations, which had come to inconclusive judgments. In nearly 100 days of the trial, more than 150 witnesses were heard, including 60 former soldiers, more than 30 civilians and experts in ballistics , forensics and various technical aspects. The commission of inquiry presented its final report to the public on May 11, 2021. The report stated that the ten people killed were "completely innocent" in the sense of the allegations they were charged with. Nine of them were killed by the army unit. Only with John McKerr is not sure who shot him. There is also no evidence that Francis Quinn carried a gun or was anywhere near anyone who carried a gun. The reports are also quite convincing that Priest Hugh Mullan was carrying a white object.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Henry McDonald: Were Bloody Sunday soldiers involved in 'Ballymurphy massacre'? The Guardian dated June 20, 2010 . Retrieved November 30, 2010
  2. ↑ a b Ballymurphy Inquest: Coroner finds 10 victims were innocent. BBC News, May 11, 2021, accessed May 11, 2021 .
  3. ↑ Tom Parker: Is Tourtor Ever Justified at www.pbs.org . Retrieved November 30, 2010
  4. ↑ See List of Ministers for Northern Ireland
  5. ↑ Richard Borth: Forget Bloody Sunday - It's The Ballymurphy Massacre Inquiry We Want Information at www.anorak.co, au . Retrieved November 30, 2010
  6. ↑ a b c Information on the first website of www.ballymurphymassacre . Retrieved November 30, 2010
  7. ↑ a b c d Information on the second website of www.ballymurphymassacre.htm . Retrieved November 30, 2010
  8. ↑ a b c d Information on the third website of www.ballymurphymassacre.htm . Retrieved November 30, 2010
  9. ↑ a b Ballymurphy Massacre Compaign on ballymurphymassacre.com . Retrieved November 30, 2010
  10. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Ciarán Barnes (Andersonstown News): Same snipers cut down Derry and Murph victims on Ireland's OWN from February 1, 2008 ). Retrieved December 2, 2010@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / irelandsown.net
  11. ↑ Ciaran Barnes: Bloody Sunday killer Paras suspected over Ballymurphy murders. Belfast Telegraph, May 16, 2021, accessed May 16, 2021 .
  12. ^ Bishop backs investigation into Ballymurphy massacre . Retrieved November 30, 2010
  13. ↑ Information on socialistunity.com . Retrieved November 30, 2010

Coordinates: 54 ° 35 ′ 47 "  N , 5 ° 58 ′ 55"  W.