Bloody Sunday (1972)

Bloody Sunday ()—sometimes called the Bogside Massacre—happened on 30 January 1972, in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. During this protest against internment, some protesters threw stones. 26 unarmed civil rights protesters and spectators were shot by British soldiers. Thirteen males, most of whom were in their teens and twenties, were killed. A fourteenth man died from his injuries four-and-a-half months later. Two protesters were also hit by army vehicles.'Bloody Sunday', Derry 30 January 1972 – Names of the Dead and Injured  CAIN Web Service, 23 March 2006. Retrieved 27 August 2006. Five of the wounded were shot in the back.Extracts from 'The Road to Bloody Sunday' by Dr Raymond McClean . Retrieved 16 February 2007. The incident happened during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march. The soldiers involved were members of the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (1 Para).

Two investigations have been held by the British government. The Widgery Tribunal, held soon after the event, said that the soldiers and British authorities were almost reckless. Critics said the report made it seem like the British did nothing wrong. The Saville Inquiry was held in 1998 to investigate the events a second time. The inquiry took 12 years. The report was made public on 15 June 2010. The report said that some soldiers were wrong to have shot the protesters. The report found that all of the people shot were unarmed, and that the killings were "unjustified". When the Saville report was published, the British prime minister, David Cameron, said sorry to the victims.

The Provisional Irish Republican Army's (IRA) war against the partition of Ireland had begun in the two years before the incident. The incident helped the IRA to recruit new members. P. 293: "Youngsters who had seen their friends die that day flocked to join the IRA..." Bloody Sunday remains among the most important events in the Troubles of Northern Ireland. The reason it is seen as so important is because those who died were shot by the British Army rather than paramilitaries. pp. 4–6

In September 2025, a soldier, David Cleary, was eventually put on trial for the murder of five victims: William McKinney (26), James "Jim" Wray (22), Bernard "Barney" McGuigan (41), Patrick Doherty (31), and Michael Kelly (17). A court order meant that in the UK, Cleary could not be called his proper name in the media, and instead could only be called "Soldier F", even though he had been identified by name in both the British and Irish parliaments.  In October 2025, the trial found Cleary not guilty, with the judge saying that the case couldn't be proven beyond doubt.

References

Category:1972 in Europe
Category:1970s in the United Kingdom
Category:British Army
Category:Crime in Northern Ireland
Category:Mass murder in the 1970s
Category:Mass shootings in Europe
Category:Massacres in the United Kingdom
Category:Murders by firearm in the United Kingdom
Category:The Troubles