<\/p>
It was very fraught. The Troubles [conflict between mostly Protestant unionists (loyalists), pushing for Northern Ireland to remain within the UK, and largely Catholic nationalists hoping for the region to become part of the Republic of Ireland] had begun in earnest in 1969. Nobody knew how long they would last or what their extent would be, but by the early seventies it was clear that things were very, very difficult.<\/p>\n
Bloody Sunday happened at the very beginning of 1972, which proved to be horrendous \u2013 the worst year of the Troubles, with almost 500 people killed. It had huge implications, not just for people in Northern Ireland but also for Anglo-Irish affairs<\/a>, which were reaching one of the most difficult points.<\/p>\n The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association had organised a march in Derry\/Londonderry on 30 January 1972 to protest against the deeply unpopular policy of internment [imprisonment without trial] introduced in Northern Ireland in August 1971.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The original plan was for the protesters to leave the Creggan area and march towards the city centre. But they were diverted away from the centre and ended up moving towards Free Derry Corner, as it was known. At this juncture you get very contested narratives of what precisely occurred.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been subjected to endless scrutiny and a number of inquiries over the decades.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The organisers were determined to try to keep the protest peaceful, but there were some who objected to attempts to prevent them from going where they wanted to go. Of course, the presence of British Army troops was seen as particularly provocative. It was in reaction to those who were challenging the British Army \u2013 whether that was with missiles or taunts \u2013 that the Parachute Regiment was mobilised and it was they who began to shoot at the unarmed protesters.<\/p>\n These events happened very, very quickly. Within a few seconds, soldiers had fatally shot in the back both 22-year-old Jim Wray and 27-year-old William McKinney. This was another very difficult aspect of Bloody Sunday \u2013 the shooting of civilians in the back.<\/p>\n In total, 13 people were killed outright on Bloody Sunday, and a fourteenth victim died later as a result of his injuries. In addition, at least 13 people were injured, and countless others were traumatised by the events.<\/p>\n It did enormous damage to Anglo-Irish relations. If you read the transcript of a telephone call between the British prime minister Ted Heath and the Irish taoiseach (prime minister) Jack Lynch, made on the night of Bloody Sunday, you can feel the anguish on the part of Lynch and the defensiveness on the part of Heath, who really blamed the IRA<\/a> for \u2013 as he put it \u2013 trying to take over the country.<\/p>\n There was also a huge reaction in the Republic of Ireland, which I think represents a highpoint of cross-border emotion about the Troubles. People walked off their jobs on the Monday after Bloody Sunday. There were all sorts of impromptu protests \u2013 the British embassy in Dublin was set ablaze.<\/p>\nWhat happened on Bloody Sunday 1972?<\/h2>\n
How many people were killed?<\/h2>\n
What was the immediate aftermath of Bloody Sunday?<\/h2>\n