Editing Bloody Sunday (1972) (section)

===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>