Editing Bloody Sunday (1972) (section)

==Background==
{{Main|The Troubles}}
The City of [[Derry]] was perceived by many [[Irish Catholics|Catholics]] and [[Irish nationalists]] in [[Northern Ireland]] to be the epitome of what was described as "fifty years of [[Unionism in Ireland|Unionist]] misrule": despite having a nationalist majority, [[gerrymandering]] ensured elections to the City Corporation always returned a unionist majority. The city was perceived to be deprived of public investment: motorways were not extended to it, [[Ulster University at Coleraine|a university]] was opened in the smaller ([[Ulster Protestants|Protestant]]-majority) town of [[Coleraine]] rather than Derry (see [[University for Derry Committee]]) and, above all, the city's housing stock was in a generally poor state.<ref name="Whyte">{{Cite book |author=Gallager |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/discrimination/whyte.htm#chap1 |title=Contemporary Irish Studies |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1983 |access-date=21 April 2011 |isbn=0-7190-0919-7 |display-authors=etal |archive-date=14 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514131114/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/discrimination/whyte.htm#chap1 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2021}} Derry therefore became a major focus of the [[civil rights]] campaign led by organisations such as the [[Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association]] (NICRA) in the late 1960s. It was the scene of the major riot known as [[Battle of the Bogside]] in August 1969, which pushed the Northern Ireland administration to ask for military support.<ref name="Purdie">{{Cite book |author=Bob Purdie |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/crights/purdie.htm#nicra |title=Politics in the Streets: The origins of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland |publisher=Blackstaff Press |year=1990 |access-date=21 April 2011 |isbn=0-85640-437-3 |archive-date=14 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514140329/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/crights/purdie.htm#nicra |url-status=live}}</ref>

While many Catholics initially welcomed the [[British Army]] as a neutral force – in contrast to the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] (RUC), which was regarded as a sectarian police force – relations between them soon deteriorated.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Niall |last=Ó Dochartaigh |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/troops/chap4.htm#honey |title=From Civil Rights to Armalites: Derry and the Birth of the Irish Troubles |publisher=Cork University Press |year=1997 |access-date=19 April 2011 |isbn=978-1-85918-108-9 |archive-date=20 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720064627/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/troops/chap4.htm#honey |url-status=live}}</ref>

In response to rising levels of violence across Northern Ireland, [[Operation Demetrius|internment without trial]] was introduced on 9 August 1971.<ref name="g45">{{cite book |last=Geraghty |first=Tony |author-link=Tony Geraghty |title=The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |year=2000 |page=45 |isbn=978-0-00-638674-2}}</ref> There was disorder across the region following the introduction of internment, with 21 people being killed in three days of violence.<ref name="e141">{{cite book |last=English |first=Richard |author-link=Richard English |title=Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA |publisher=[[Pan Books]] |year=2003 |page=141 |isbn=0-330-49388-4}}</ref> In [[Belfast]], soldiers of the [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]] shot dead eleven civilians in what became known as the [[Ballymurphy massacre]].<ref name="ballymurphy"/> On 10 August, [[Bombardier (rank)|Bombardier]] Paul Challenor became the first soldier to be killed by the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] (Provisional IRA) in Derry, when he was shot by a sniper in the [[Creggan, Derry|Creggan]] [[housing estate]].<ref name="b83">{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Peter |title=Brits: The War Against the IRA |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2001 |page=[https://archive.org/details/brits00pete/page/83 83] |isbn=0-7475-5806-X |url=https://archive.org/details/brits00pete/page/83}}</ref> A month after internment was introduced, a British soldier shot dead a 14-year-old Catholic schoolgirl, [[Annette McGavigan]], in Derry.<ref>''The Catholic Church and the Northern Ireland Troubles, 1968–1998'' {{ISBN|978-0-198-84321-4}} p. 43</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=46 years on: Annette's family vow to continue fight for justice |url=https://www.derryjournal.com/news/46-years-annettes-family-vow-continue-fight-justice-1117931 |access-date=19 July 2021 |work=[[Derry Journal]] |date=26 May 2017 |archive-date=19 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719125551/https://www.derryjournal.com/news/46-years-annettes-family-vow-continue-fight-justice-1117931 |url-status=live}}</ref> Two months later, Kathleen Thompson, a 47-year-old mother of six, was shot dead in her back garden in Derry by the British Army.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kathleen Thompson inquest: Ex-soldier 'did not hear any shooting' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-57551002 |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=21 June 2021 |access-date=30 November 2021 |archive-date=30 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130194214/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-57551002 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sutton |first1=Malcolm |title=CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths 1971 |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/sutton/chron/1971.html |website=CAIN Archive - Conflict and Politics in Northern Ireland. |access-date=30 November 2021 |archive-date=21 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021024541/https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/sutton/chron/1971.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

IRA activity also increased across Northern Ireland, with thirty British soldiers being killed in the remaining months of 1971, in contrast to the ten soldiers killed during the pre-internment period of the year.<ref name="e141" /> A further six soldiers had been killed in Derry by end of 1971.<ref name="b84">''Brits'', p. 84.</ref> At least 1,332 rounds were fired at the British Army, which also faced 211 explosions and 180 [[nail bomb]]s,<ref name="b84" /> and who fired 364 rounds in return. Both the Provisional IRA and the [[Official IRA]] had built barricades and established [[no-go area]]s for the British Army and RUC in Derry.<ref name="b82">''Brits'', p. 82.</ref> By the end of 1971, 29 barricades were in place to prevent access to what was known as [[Free Derry]], sixteen of them impassable even to the British Army's [[Humber Pig|one-ton armoured vehicles]].<ref name="b82" /> IRA members openly mounted roadblocks in front of the media, and daily clashes took place between nationalist youths and the British Army at a spot known as "aggro corner".<ref name="b82" /> Due to rioting and [[incendiary device]]s, an estimated {{Nowrap|£4 million}} worth of damage was caused to local businesses.<ref name="b82" />

===Lead-up to the march===
On 18 January 1972 the [[Prime Minister of Northern Ireland|Northern Irish Prime Minister]], [[Brian Faulkner]], banned all parades and marches in the region until the end of the year.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Events+surrounding+one+of+the+darkest+days+in+history.-a061037924 |title=Events surrounding one of the darkest days in history |last=Macaskill |first=Jamie |work=Daily Record |location=Glasgow |date=28 March 2000 |access-date=29 January 2017 |archive-date=2 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202050213/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Events+surrounding+one+of+the+darkest+days+in+history.-a061037924 |url-status=live}}</ref> Four days later, in defiance of the ban, an anti-internment march was held at [[Magilligan]] strand, near Derry. Protesters marched to an [[internment camp]] but were stopped by soldiers of the Parachute Regiment. When some protesters threw stones and tried to go around the barbed wire, paratroopers drove them back by firing [[rubber bullet]]s at close range and making [[baton charge]]s. The paratroopers badly beat a number of protesters and had to be physically restrained by their own officers. These allegations of brutality by paratroopers were reported widely on television and in the press. Some in the British Army also thought there had been undue violence by the paratroopers.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100622005750/http://report.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org/volume01/chapter009/ Report of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, Volume I, Chapter 9], paragraphs 202–221</ref><ref>[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/chron.htm 'Bloody Sunday', 30 January 1972 – A Chronology of Events] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206181115/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/chron.htm |date=6 December 2010 }}. [[Conflict Archive on the Internet]] (CAIN).</ref>

NICRA intended to hold another anti-internment march in Derry on 30 January. The authorities decided to allow it to proceed in the Bogside, but to stop it from reaching [[Guildhall, Derry|Guildhall Square]], as planned by the organisers, to avoid rioting. Major General [[Robert Ford (British Army officer)|Robert Ford]], then Commander of Land Forces in Northern Ireland, ordered that the [[1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment]] (1 Para), should travel to Derry to be used to arrest rioters.<ref name="Saville2.16-17">{{Cite web |url=http://report.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org/volume01/chapter002 |website=Report of The Bloody Sunday Inquiry |title=Volume I, Chapter 2: Outline of events before the day |publisher=Crown Copyright |year=2010 |access-date=22 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100915134440/http://report.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org/volume01/chapter002 |archive-date=15 September 2010}}</ref> The arrest operation was codenamed 'Operation Forecast'.<ref>[https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/279167/0030.pdf Principal Conclusions and Overall Assessment of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123132833/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/279167/0030.pdf |date=23 November 2015 }}. [[The Stationery Office]]. 15 June 2010. p. 9</ref> The Saville Report criticised Ford for choosing the Parachute Regiment for the operation, as it had "a reputation for using excessive physical violence".<ref>[https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/279167/0030.pdf Principal Conclusions and Overall Assessment of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123132833/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/279167/0030.pdf |date=23 November 2015 }}. [[The Stationery Office]]. p. 50</ref> March organiser and MP [[Ivan Cooper]] had been promised beforehand that no armed IRA members would be near the march, although [[Tony Geraghty]] wrote that some of the stewards were probably IRA members.<ref>[[Tony Geraghty|Geraghty, Tony]]. ''The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence''. JHU Press, 2000. pp.55–57</ref>