1969 Northern Ireland riots

Northern Ireland was destabilised in 1968 by sporadic rioting arising out of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) campaign, and the police and loyalist reaction to it. The civil rights campaign demanded an end to discrimination against Catholics in voting rights, housing and employment. NICRA was opposed by loyalists led primarily by Ian Paisley. During the summer of 1969, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) published a highly critical report which "criticised the Northern Ireland Government for police brutality, religious discrimination [against Catholics] and gerrymandering in politics". The ICJ secretary general said that laws and conditions in Northern Ireland had been cited by the South African government to justify its apartheid system. Events leading up to the August riots The first major confrontation between Catholic civil rights activists and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Northern Ireland's overwhelmingly Protestant police force, occurred in Derry on 5 October 1968, when a NICRA march was baton-charged by the RUC. Disturbed by the prospect of major violence, the prime minister of Northern Ireland, Terence O'Neill, promised reforms in return for a "truce", whereby no further demonstrations would be held. In spite of these promises, in January 1969 People's Democracy, a left-wing group, staged an anti-government march from Belfast to Derry. Loyalists, including off-duty members of the B-Specials, attacked the marchers, most determinedly at Burntollet Bridge, outside Derry. The RUC failed to adequately protect the marchers. This action, and the RUC's subsequent entry into Derry's predominantly Catholic Bogside district, led to serious rioting in the city. In March and April 1969, there were six bomb attacks on electricity and water infrastructure, causing blackouts and water shortages. At first the attacks were blamed on the Irish Republican Army (IRA), but it later emerged that the loyalist Ulster Protestant Volunteers (UPV) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) had carried out the bombings in an attempt to implicate the IRA, destabilise the Northern Ireland government and halt the reforms promised by O'Neill. On 12 July, during the Orange Order's Twelfth of July marches, there was serious rioting in Derry, Belfast and Dungiven, causing many families in Belfast to flee from their homes. Another Catholic civilian, Francis McCloskey (67), died after being hit on the head with batons by RUC officers during rioting in Dungiven. ==Battle of the Bogside==

This unrest culminated in a pitched battle in Derry from 12 to 14 August, known as the Battle of the Bogside. As the yearly march by the Protestant loyalist Apprentice Boys of Derry skirted the edge of the Catholic Bogside, stone-throwing broke out. The RUC—on foot and in armoured vehicles—drove back the Catholic crowd and attempted to force its way into the Bogside, followed by loyalists who smashed the windows of Catholic homes. Thousands of Bogside residents mobilised to defend the area, and beat back the RUC with a hail of stones and petrol bombs. Barricades were built, petrol bomb workshops and first aid posts were set up, and a radio transmitter ("Radio Free Derry") broadcast messages and called on "every able-bodied man in Ireland who believes in freedom" to defend the Bogside. The overstretched police resorted to throwing stones back at the Bogsiders, and were helped by loyalists. They fired CS gas into the Bogside – the first time it had been used by police in the UK. The Bogsiders feared that the B-Specials, the wholly-Protestant police reserves, would be sent in and would massacre the Catholic residents. On 13 August, NICRA called for protests across Northern Ireland in support of the Bogside to draw police away from the fighting there. That night it issued a statement: A war of genocide is about to flare across the North. The CRA demands that all Irishmen recognise their common interdependence and calls upon the Government and people of the Twenty-six Counties to act now to prevent a great national disaster. We urgently request that the Government take immediate action to have a United Nations peace-keeping force sent to Derry. ==Violence in Belfast==

Belfast has a long history of riots between Catholics and Protestants. British rule in Ireland was cemented by official British support for Protestant settlement since the 17th Century. Beginning in 1835 there have been at least 15 major riots in Belfast, the most violent ones taking place in 1864, 1886 and 1921. See 1886 Belfast riots, Bloody Sunday (1921) and The Troubles in Ulster (1920–1922). Belfast saw the most intense violence of the August 1969 riots. Unlike Derry, Catholics were a minority in Belfast and mostly lived in enclaves surrounded by Protestant districts. For this reason, whereas in Derry the fighting was largely between nationalists and the RUC, in Belfast it also involved fighting between Catholics and Protestants, including exchanges of gunfire and widespread burning of homes and businesses. On the night of 12 August, bands of Apprentice Boys arrived back in Belfast after taking part in the Derry march. They were met by Protestant pipe bands and a large crowd of supporters. They then marched to Shankill Road waving Union Flags and singing "The Sash My Father Wore", a popular loyalist ballad. Wednesday 13 August The first disturbances in Belfast took place on the night of 13 August. Derry activists Eamonn McCann and Seán Keenan contacted Frank Gogarty of NICRA to organise demonstrations in Belfast to draw off police from Derry. Independently, Belfast IRA leader Billy McMillen ordered republicans to organise demonstrations "in support of Derry". In protest at the RUC's actions in Derry, a group of 500 nationalists held a demonstration outside Springfield Road police station, where they handed in a petition. After handing in the petition, the crowd of now 1,000–2,000 people, including IRA members such as Joe McCann, began a protest march along Falls Road and Divis Street to the Hastings Street police station. The RUC responded by deploying riot police In addition to the attacks on the RUC, the car dealership of Protestant Isaac Agnew, on the Falls Road, was destroyed. The nationalist crowd also burnt a Catholic-owned pub and betting shop. At this stage, loyalist crowds gathered on Shankill Road but did not join in the clashes. . The RUC used Shorlands mounted with Browning machine guns during the riots. Thursday 14 August and early Friday 15 August On 14 August, many Catholics and Protestants living near sectarian flashpoints fled their homes for safety. Their orders at the outset were to "disperse people trying to burn houses, but under no circumstances to take life". Falls–Shankill interface at Divis Street At around 7 pm, a nationalist crowd the Falls gathered outside Hastings Street police station and began to attack it with stones and petrol bombs for a second night. Loyalist crowds armed with petrol bombs, bricks, stones, sharpened poles and protective dustbin lids gathered at Dover and Percy Streets. On Dover Street, the loyalist crowd was led by Ulster Unionist MP John McQuade. They included a rowdy gang of loyalist football supporters who had returned from a match. The loyalists began moving down these streets into the Catholic district, attacking Catholic homes and businesses. They were confronted by nationalists, who had hastily blocked their streets with barricades. Fighting broke out between the rival factions at about 11 pm. Catholics claimed that B-Specials had been seen giving guns to the loyalists, On Percy Street, a loyalist opened fire with a shotgun, opened fire on RUC officers and loyalists gathered at the intersection of Dover and Divis Street, at the edge of the Catholic district. Protestant Herbert Roy (26) was killed In response to the RUC coming under fire at Divis Street, three Shorland armoured cars were called to the scene. The Shorlands were immediately attacked with gunfire, an explosive device and petrol bombs. The RUC believed that the shots had come from the Divis complex. The Republican Labour Party MP for Belfast Central, Paddy Kennedy, who was on the scene, phoned RUC headquarters and appealed to Northern Ireland Minister for Home Affairs, Robert Porter, for the Shorlands to be withdrawn and the shooting to stop. Porter replied that this was impossible as "the whole town is in rebellion". Porter told Kennedy that Donegall Street police station was under heavy machine-gun fire. In fact, it was undisturbed throughout the riots. At about 1 am, police marksmen on the roof of Hastings Street station fired eighteen rifle rounds at rioters on the roof of the Whitehall flats. The shots killed Hugh McCabe (20), a Catholic soldier in the British Army who was on leave, and wounded several other people. The police marksmen claimed they responded to gunfire coming from the roof of the Whitehall flats, although witnesses denied that anyone on the roof was armed. Some time after the killing of Hugh McCabe, some 200 loyalists attacked Divis Street and began burning Catholic houses there. A unit of six IRA volunteers in St Comgall's School shot at them with a rifle, a Thompson submachine gun and pistols; keeping the attackers back and wounding eight. An RUC Shorland then arrived and opened fire on the school. The RUC made baton charges into the Catholic streets, using a Humber armoured vehicle to smash through barricades that had been erected. The Scarman Tribunal recorded that they were followed by a crowd of loyalists, The RUC were pelted with stones and petrol bombs from nationalists, and there were reports of nationalist gunfire coming from Herbert Street. Police responded by firing a Sterling submachine gun at several houses on the street, killing Catholic civilian Samuel McLarnon (aged 27). Friday 15 August The morning of 15 August saw many Catholic families in central Belfast flee to Andersonstown, on the western fringes of the city, to escape the rioting. According to Bishop and Mallie, "Each side's perceptions of the other's intentions had become so warped that the Protestants believed the Catholics were clearing the decks for a further attempt at insurrection in the evening". At 4:30am on Friday 15 August, the police commissioner for Belfast asked for military aid. From the early hours of Friday, the RUC had withdrawn to its bases to defend them. The interface areas were thus left unpoliced for half a day until the British Army arrived. Falls–Shankill interface at Clonard On 15 August, violence continued along the Falls-Shankill interface. Father PJ Egan of Clonard Monastery recalled that a large loyalist mob moved down Cupar Street at about 3pm and was confronted by nationalist youths. Shooting began at about 3:45pm. Almost all of the houses on Bombay Street were burned by the loyalists, and many others were burned on Kashmir Road and Cupar Street – the most extensive destruction of property during the riots. A loyalist sniper shot dead Gerald McAuley (15), a member of the Fianna, At about 6:30pm The Royal Regiment of Wales was deployed on the Falls Road, The loyalists continued shooting and burned more Catholic-owned houses on Bombay Street, ==Disturbances elsewhere==

In aid of the Bogsiders, the NICRA executive called for protests in towns across Northern Ireland. The Scarman Report concluded that the spread of the disturbances "owed much to a deliberate decision by some minority groups to relieve police pressure on the rioters in Londonderry". It included NICRA among these groups. There were further riots on 13 August in Dungannon, Coalisland, Dungiven, Newry and Armagh. In Newry, nationalist rioters surrounded the police station and attacked it with petrol bombs. In Crossmaglen on 17 August, the IRA attacked the police station and withdrew after an exchange of fire. ==Reactions==

On 13 August, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Jack Lynch made a television address in which he stated that the Irish Defence Forces were setting up field hospitals along the Irish border and called for UN intervention. He said:It is evident that the Stormont Government is no longer in control of the situation. Indeed, the present situation is the inevitable outcome of the policies pursued for decades by successive Stormont Governments. It is clear, also, that the Irish Government can no longer stand by and see innocent people injured and perhaps worse. It is obvious that the R.U.C. is no longer accepted as an impartial police force. Neither would the employment of British troops be acceptable [...] The Irish Government have, therefore, requested the British Government to apply immediately to the United Nations for the urgent despatch of a Peace-keeping Force [...] We have also asked the British Government to see to it that police attacks on the people of Derry should cease immediately. When the Irish government met on 14 and 15 August, it decided to send troops to protect the field hospitals and to call up the first line army reserves "in readiness for participation in peace-keeping operations". This, along with Lynch's statement, fuelled rumours that Irish troops were about to cross the border and intervene. On 14 August he stated in the Northern Ireland parliament:This is not the agitation of a minority seeking by lawful means the assertion of political rights. It is the conspiracy of forces seeking to overthrow a Government democratically elected by a large majority. What the teenage hooligans seek beyond cheap kicks I do not know. But of this I am quite certain – they are being manipulated and encouraged by those who seek to discredit and overthrow this Government". Representatives of the British and Northern Ireland governments—including Chichester-Clark and British Prime Minister Harold Wilson—held a two-day meeting at 10 Downing Street, beginning on 19 August. A Communique and Declaration was issued at the end of the first day. The Irish government failed to have a resolution on Northern Ireland put to a vote at the UN. In late August, the Northern Ireland government announced the establishment of an inquiry into the riots, to be chaired by Justice Scarman (and known as the "Scarman Inquiry"). A committee under Baron Hunt was also set up to consider reform of the RUC and the B-Specials, which led to the latter being disbanded. ==Casualties and refugees==

The rioting petered out by Sunday, 17 August. By the end of the riots: • Eight people had been killed, including: – 133 (72 Catholics and 61 Protestants) of those injured suffered gunshot wounds and 275+ businesses had been destroyed – 83% of all buildings destroyed were owned by Catholics • 1,505 Catholic families • 315 Protestant families Catholics generally fled across the border into the Republic of Ireland, while Protestants generally fled to east Belfast. The Irish Defence Forces set up refugee camps in the Republic – at one point the Gormanston refugee camp held 6,000 refugees from Northern Ireland. ==Long-term effects==

" at Bombay Street in Belfast, seen from the Irish Catholic/nationalist side. This is the view from the back of a house. The August riots were the most sustained violence that Northern Ireland had seen since the early 1920s. Many Protestants, loyalists and unionists believed the violence showed the true face of the Catholic civil rights movement – as a front for the IRA and armed insurrection. They had mixed feelings regarding the deployment of British troops. Eddie Kinner, a resident of Dover Street who would later join the UVF, vividly recalled the troops marching down his street with fixed bayonets and steel helmets; he and his neighbours had felt they were being invaded by their "own army". Catholics and nationalists, on the other hand, saw the riots (particularly in Belfast) as an assault on their community by loyalists and the forces of the state. The riots are often cited as the beginning of the Troubles. Violence escalated sharply in Northern Ireland after these events, with the formation of new paramilitary groups on both sides, most notably the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in December of that year. On the loyalist side, the UVF were galvanised by the riots and in 1971, another paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) was founded out of a coalition of loyalist militants who had been active since August 1969. The largest of these were the Woodvale Defence Association (WDA), led by Charles Harding Smith, and the Shankill Defence Association (SDA), led by John McKeague, which had been responsible for what organisation there was of loyalist violence in the riots. While the thousands of British troops sent to Northern Ireland were initially seen as a neutral force, they quickly got dragged into the street violence and by 1971 were devoting most of their attention to combating republican paramilitaries. Irish Republican Army The role of the IRA in the riots has long been disputed. At the time, the organisation was blamed by the Northern Ireland authorities for the violence. However, it was badly prepared to defend nationalist areas of Belfast, having few weapons or members on the ground. The Scarman Inquiry concluded:Undoubtedly there was an IRA influence at work in the DCDA (Derry Citizens' Defence Association) in Londonderry, in the Ardoyne and Falls Road areas of Belfast, and in Newry. But they did not start the riots, or plan them: indeed, the evidence is that the IRA was taken by surprise and did less than many of their supporters thought they should have done. However, IRA veterans of the time, who spoke to authors Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, disputed this. One, Sean O'Hare, said, "I never saw it written on a wall. That wasn't the attitude. People fell in behind the IRA, stood behind them 100%". Another, Sean Curry, recalled "some people were a bit angry but most praised the people who did defend the area. They knew that if the men weren't there, the area wouldn't have been defended." At the time, the IRA released a statement on 18 August, saying it had been "in action in Belfast and Derry" and "fully equipped units had been sent to the border". It had been "reluctantly compelled into action by Orange murder gangs" and warned the British Army that if it "was used to the legitimate demands of the people they will have to take the consequences" and urged the Irish government to send the Irish Army over the border. Cathal Goulding, the IRA Chief of Staff, sent small units from Dublin and counties Cork and Kerry to the border counties of Donegal, Leitrim and Monaghan with orders to attack RUC posts in Northern Ireland and draw off pressure from Belfast and Derry. A total of 96 weapons and 12,000 rounds of ammunition were also sent to the North. Nevertheless, the poor state of IRA arms and military capability in August 1969 led to a bitter split within the IRA in Belfast. According to Hanley and Millar, "dissensions that pre-dated August [1969] had been given a powerful emotional focus". In September 1969, a group of IRA men led by Billy McKee and Joe Cahill stated that they would no longer be taking orders from the Dublin leadership of the IRA, or from Billy McMillen (their commander in Belfast), because they had not provided enough weapons or planning to defend Catholic areas. In December 1969, they broke away to form the 'Provisional' IRA and vowed to defend areas from attack by loyalists and the RUC. The other wing of the IRA became known as the 'Official' IRA. Shortly after its formation, Provisionals launched an offensive campaign against the state of Northern Ireland. The RUC and USC The actions of the police in the riots are perhaps the most contentious issue arising out of the disturbances. Nationalists argue that the RUC acted in a blatantly biased manner, helping loyalists who were assaulting Catholic neighbourhoods. There were also strong suggestions that police knew when loyalist attacks were to happen and seemed to disappear from some Catholic areas shortly before loyalist mobs attacked. The Scarman Inquiry found that the RUC were "seriously at fault" on at least six occasions during the rioting. Specifically, they criticised the RUC's use of Browning heavy machine-guns in built-up areas, their failure to stop Protestants from burning down Catholic homes, and their withdrawal from the streets long before the Army arrived. However, the Scarman Report concluded that, "Undoubtedly mistakes were made and certain individual officers acted wrongly on occasions. But the general case of a partisan force co-operating with Protestant crowds to attack Catholic people is devoid of substance, and we reject it utterly". The report argued that the RUC were under-strength, poorly led and that their conduct in the riots was explained by their belief they were dealing with a co-ordinated IRA uprising. They pointed to the RUC's dispersal of loyalist rioters in Belfast on 2–4 August in support of the force's impartiality. Of the B-Specials, the Scarman Report said:There were grave objections, well understood by those in authority, to the use of the USC in communal disturbances. In 1969 the USC contained no Catholics but was a force drawn from the Protestant section of the community. Totally distrusted by the Catholics, who saw them as the strong arm of the Protestant ascendancy, they could not show themselves in a Catholic area without heightening tension. Moreover, they were neither trained nor equipped for riot control duty. The report found that the B-Specials had fired on Catholic demonstrators in Dungiven, Coalisland, Dungannon and Armagh, causing casualties, which "was a reckless and irresponsible thing to do". It found that B-Specials had, on occasion, sided with loyalist mobs. There were reports that B-Specials were spotted hiding among loyalist mobs, using coats to hide their uniforms. Nevertheless, the Scarman Report concluded "there are no grounds for singling out mobilised USC as being guilty of misconduct". ==See also==