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Bloody Sunday (1921)

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Belfast's Bloody Sunday
Part of theIrish War of IndependenceandThe Troubles in Northern Ireland (1920–1922)
Date10 July 1921
Location
Belfast,Northern Ireland
MethodsRioting,gun battles,grenadeattacks, house burnings
Resulted in161–200 houses destroyed,
curfewsimposed
Casualties and losses
17+ killed
100+ injured

Bloody SundayorBelfast's Bloody Sundaywas a day of violence inBelfast,Northern Irelandon 10 July 1921, during theIrish War of Independence.The violence erupted one day before atrucebegan, which ended the war in most of Ireland. With the truce nearing,policelaunched a raid againstrepublicans,but were ambushed by theIrish Republican Army(IRA) and an officer was killed. In retaliation,ProtestantloyalistsattackedCatholicenclaves in west Belfast, burning homes and businesses. This sparked rioting and gun battles between Protestants and Catholics, including paramilitaries. There were also gun battles between republicans/nationalistsand the police, and some police patrols fired indiscriminately at Catholic civilians. Seventeen people were killed or fatally wounded on 10 July, and a further three were killed or fatally wounded beforethe trucebegan at noon on 11 July. At least 100 people were wounded. About 200 houses were destroyed or badly damaged, most of them Catholic homes, leaving 1,000 people homeless.[1]See:The Troubles in Northern Ireland (1920–1922).

Background

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Belfast saw almost 500 people killed from 1920 to 1922 in political and sectarian violence related to theIrish War of Independence.While most of Ireland had aCatholicandIrish nationalistmajority who wanted independence, the north-east had aProtestantandUnionistmajority who wanted to maintain ties to Britain. Sectarian violence started in the city ofDerryin April 1920 with gun battles and rioting continuing into May. Derry saw intense violence breaking out in the city on 18 June which continued for a week. At least nineteen people were killed or fatally wounded during this time: 14 Catholics and five Protestants.[2]Violence broke out in Belfast on 21 July 1920, when ProtestantLoyalistsdrove 8,000 "disloyal" co-workers from their jobs in the Belfast shipyards, mostly Catholics and some Protestantlabour activists.[3]The violence was partly in reaction to increasingIrish Republican Army(IRA) attacks and was fuelled by rhetoric from Unionist politicians.[4]More than 50 people were killed in rioting between Protestants and Catholics.[5][6]In nearbyLisburn,BanbridgeandDromoreloyalists burnt hundreds of Catholic businesses and homes.[7]

There was sporadic violence in Belfast over the following year. In May 1921,Ireland was partitionedunderBritish law,creatingNorthern Irelandas a self-governing territory of the United Kingdom,[8]with Belfast as its capital. Its borders were drawn to give it a Protestant majority.[9]Its new reserve police force, theUlster Special Constabulary(USC), was almost wholly Protestant and some of its members carried out reprisal attacks on Catholics.[10]

Violence increased in the summer of 1921. At the time, representatives of the self-declaredIrish Republicand the British government were negotiating a truce to end the war. On 10 June, IRA volunteers shot threeRoyal Irish Constabulary(RIC) officers on Belfast'sFalls Road,fatally wounding Constable James Glover. He had been targeted because the IRA suspected him of being part of a group of police involved in sectarian killings of Catholics.[11]This attack sparked three days of loyalist violence, during which at least 14 people were killed, including three Catholics who were taken from their homes and killed by uniformed police.[12]Sporadic violence continued in the city over the next month. On 8 July, police attempted to carry out searches in the Catholic enclave of Carrick Hill. However, they were confronted by about 15 IRA volunteers, leading to an hour-long firefight.[13]

Violence

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On 9 July 1921, a ceasefire (or truce) was agreed between representatives of theIrish Republicand the British government, to begin at noon on 11 July. Many Protestant loyalists condemned the truce as a 'sell-out' to republicans.[14]

On the night of 9–10 July, hours after the truce was announced, the RIC attempted to launch a police raid in the CatholicLower Fallsdistrict of west Belfast. Scouts alerted the IRA of the raid by blowing whistles, banging dustbin lids and flashing a red light. On Raglan Street, a unit of about 14 IRA volunteers ambushed an armoured police truck, killing one officer and wounding at least two others.[15]The officer killed was Thomas Conlon, a Catholic fromCounty Roscommon,who, ironically, was viewed as "sympathetic" to the local nationalists.[13][5]

That killing sparked a week of ferocious violence between Protestants and Catholics in west Belfast in which 22 people died.[16]The following day, Sunday 10 July 1921, Protestants, "fearful of absorption into a Green, Catholic Ireland [...] and blindly angered by the presence of heresy and treason in their midst, struck [...] at the Catholic community" while "vengeful Catholics struck back with counter-terror".[14]Much of the violence took place along the sectarian boundary between the ProtestantShankilland CatholicFallsdistricts. A "loyalist mob, several thousand strong" attempted to storm the Falls district, carrying petrol and other flammable materials.[17]Between 161 and 200 houses were destroyed,[17]about 150 of which were Catholic homes.[18]TheIrish Newsreported that the Falls district was "in a state of siege".[5]Atramtravelling from the Falls into the city centre was struck by snipers' bullets, and the service had to be suspended.[17]

Gun battles also raged along the sectarian boundaries in the west and north of the city and rival gunmen usedrifles,machine guns andhand grenadesin the clashes. Gunmen were seen firing from upstairs windows, rooftops and street corners.[17]The New York Timescharacterised the clashes as "a three-fold fight betweenSinn FéinandUnionistsnipers andCrown forces".It added," In the extent of material damage to property, Sunday's rioting can be compared to theDublin Rising in 1916".[19]While the IRA was involved in some of the fighting, it did not control the actions of the Catholic community. A rival Irish nationalist group, theHibernians,were also involved on the Catholic side.[20]

Catholics claimed that police—mostly from the overwhelmingly-ProtestantUlster Special Constabulary(USC)—drove through Catholic enclaves in armoured cars firing indiscriminately at houses and bystanders.[5]A 13-year-old Catholic girl, Mary McGowan, was shot dead by USC officers firing from an armoured car as she crossed the road with her mother.[21]The inquest into her death concluded that they had "deliberately" shot the girl and added: "In the interests of peace, Special Constabulary should not be allowed into localities of people of opposite denominations".[5]Another Catholic, William Tierney (56), was killed in his home by USC gunfire which shattered his window. One Protestant, Francis Robinson (65), was killed by police bullets as he lay in bed during an exchange of fire.[21]

Two Catholic fathers, James McGuinness and Daniel Hughes, were killed in separate incidents by loyalist snipers while rushing to bring their children home. Meanwhile, two Protestant boys, William Baxter (12) and Ernest Park (13) were both killed apparently by the same nationalist sniper.[22]

The police returned to their barracks late on Sunday night, allegedly after a ceasefire had been agreed by telephone between a senior RIC officer and the commander of the IRA'sBelfast Brigade,Roger McCorley.[5]The truce was due to begin at midday on Monday 11 July, but violence resumed that morning. Loyalist crowds from the Shankill attacked and looted Catholic homes. IRA officerJoe McKelveyreported that the IRA struggled to control Catholic crowds "infuriated by the burnings of their homes".[23]Three people were shot dead that day, including IRA volunteer Seamus Ledlie, who was shot minutes before midday.[5]

The day was referred to as "Belfast's Bloody Sunday" at the time. However the title of "Bloody Sunday" now more commonly refers in Ireland to events inDublin in November 1920orDerry in January 1972.

Casualties

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As well as the RIC officer killed on Raglan Street, 16 people were killed and fatally wounded on Sunday; 11 Catholics and 5 Protestants.[21][17]One Catholic man who was shot that day died from his wounds nine months later.[5]Three more people were killed and fatally wounded before the start of the truce on Monday; an IRA member, a Catholic and a Protestant.[24]Most of the dead were civilians and at least four of the Catholic victims were former soldiers who served in the First World War.[17]More than 100 people were wounded.[5]

Aftermath

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A strict curfew was enforced in Belfast after the violence. On 11 July, the Commandant of the IRA's 2nd Northern Division,Eoin O'Duffy,was sent to Belfast by the organization's leadership in Dublin to liaise with the British authorities there and try to maintain the truce. He said, "I found the city in a veritable state of war. The peal of rifles could be heard on all sides, frenzied mobs at every street corner, terror-stricken people rushing for their lives, and ambulances carrying the dead and dying to hospitals."[25]There were no serious disturbances during theOrange Order's yearly12 July marches,but sporadic violence resumed the following day, and by the end of the week, 28 people had been killed or fatally wounded in Belfast.[26]

O'Duffy set up headquarters in St Mary's Hall in Belfast city centre and made contact with British forces and the press. With the tacit consent of the RIC, he organized IRA patrols in Catholic areas to try to restore order and announced that IRA action would cease except in self-defence. Both Protestants and Catholics saw the truce as a victory for republicans. Protestant unionists "were particularly appalled by the sight of policemen and soldiers meeting IRA officers on a semi-official basis". While the truce ended fighting in most of Ireland, communal violence soon resumed in Belfast.[25]IRA members later recalled, "The Truce was not observed by either side in the north", while McCorley said the truce in Belfast "lasted six hours only".[27]

The violence of the period in Belfast was cyclical, and the events of July 1921 were followed by a lull until a three-day period starting on 29 August, when another 20 people died in the west and north of the city.[28]

References

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  1. ^Parkinson, Alan F.Belfast's Unholy War.Four Courts Press, Dublin 2004;ISBN1-85182-792-7,p. 154.
  2. ^Eunan O'Halpin & Daithí Ó Corráin (2020).The Dead of the Irish Revolution.Yale University Press, pp.141–145.
  3. ^Lynch, Robert.The Partition of Ireland: 1918–1925.Cambridge University Press, 2019. pp.92–93
  4. ^Lawlor, Pearse.The Burnings, 1920.Mercier Press, 2009. pp.90–92
  5. ^abcdefghiGlennon, Kieran.Today in Irish History – July 10 1921 – Belfast’s Bloody SundayArchived10 July 2015 at theWayback Machine.The Irish Story. 10 July 2015.
  6. ^Parkinson, p. 317.
  7. ^Lynch (2019), pp. 90–92
  8. ^O'Day, Alan.Irish Home Rule, 1867–1921.Manchester University Press, 1998. p. 299
  9. ^Morland, Paul.Demographic Engineering: Population Strategies in Ethnic Conflict.Routledge, 2016. pp.96–98
  10. ^Farrell, Michael.Arming the Protestants: The Formation of the Ulster Special Constabulary and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.Pluto Press, 1983. p.166
  11. ^O'Halpin & Ó Corráin, p.470
  12. ^Parkinson, pp. 137–138.
  13. ^abParkinson, p. 151
  14. ^abBell, J Bowyer.The Secret Army: The IRA.Transaction Publishers, 1997. pp. 29–30.ISBN978-1560009016
  15. ^O'Halpin & Ó Corráin, pp. 513–514
  16. ^O'Halpin & Ó Corráin, p. 514
  17. ^abcdefParkinson, pp. 153–154.
  18. ^Lynch, Robert.The Northern IRA and the Early Years of Partition.Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 2006;ISBN0-7165-3378-2,p. 79.
  19. ^New York Times, 11 July 1921Archived10 July 2021 at theWayback Machine.
  20. ^Wilson, Tim.Frontiers of Violence: Conflict and Identity in Ulster and Upper Silesia 1918–1922.Oxford University Press, 2010. pp. 128–129
  21. ^abcO'Halpin & Ó Corráin, pp. 518–519
  22. ^Parkinson, p. 155
  23. ^Fearghal McGarry,Eoin O'Duffy, a Self-Made Hero,Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005;ISBN978-0-19-922667-2,p. 78.
  24. ^O'Halpin, pp. 520, 522
  25. ^abMcGarry, pp. 78–79.
  26. ^Parkinson, pp. 154–155.
  27. ^Lynch p. 80.
  28. ^Parkinson, p. 318.

Sources

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