Editing Ulster Volunteer Force (section)

===Violence escalates===
By 1969, the Catholic civil rights movement had escalated its protest campaign, and O'Neill had promised them some concessions. In March and April that year, UVF and UPV members bombed water and electricity installations in Northern Ireland, blaming them on the dormant IRA and elements of the civil rights movement. Some of them left much of Belfast without power and water.<ref name="CAIN 1969">{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch69.htm |title=Chronology of the Conflict: 1969 |publisher=[[Conflict Archive on the Internet]] (CAIN) |access-date=1 September 2011 |archive-date=6 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206184139/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch69.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The loyalists "intended to force a crisis which would so undermine confidence in O'Neill's ability to maintain law and order that he would be obliged to resign".<ref>Cusack & McDonald, p. 28</ref> There were bombings on 30 March, 4 April, 20 April, 24 April and 26 April. All were widely blamed on the IRA, and British troops were sent to guard installations.<ref name="CAIN 1969"/> Unionist support for O'Neill waned, and on 28 April he resigned as Prime Minister.<ref name="CAIN 1969"/>

On 12 August 1969, the "[[Battle of the Bogside]]" began in [[Derry]]. This was a large, three-day riot between Irish nationalists and the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] (RUC). In response to events in Derry, nationalists held [[1969 Northern Ireland riots|protests throughout Northern Ireland, some of which became violent]]. In Belfast, loyalists responded by attacking nationalist districts. Eight people were shot dead and hundreds were injured. Scores of houses and businesses were burnt out, most of them owned by Catholics. In response, the British Army was deployed on the streets of Northern Ireland and [[Irish Army]] units set up [[field hospital]]s near the border. Thousands of families, mostly Catholics, were forced to flee their homes and [[refugee camp]]s were set up in the Republic of Ireland.<ref name="CAIN 1969"/>

On 12 October, a loyalist protest in the Shankill became violent. During the riot, UVF members shot dead RUC officer Victor Arbuckle. He was the first RUC officer to be killed during the Troubles.<ref>McKittrick, David. ''Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles''. Random House, 2001. p. 42</ref>

The UVF had launched its first attack in the Republic of Ireland on 5 August 1969, when it bombed the [[RTÉ Television Centre]] in Dublin.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bomb damages RTÉ studios |url=http://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/681-history-of-rte/704-rte-1960s/139354-bomb-damages-rte-tv-studios/ |publisher=RTÉ.ie |access-date=2013-12-27 |date=1 December 2011 |archive-date=15 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015080931/http://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/681-history-of-rte/704-rte-1960s/139354-bomb-damages-rte-tv-studios/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VQMgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TGQFAAAAIBAJ&dq=dublin%20bomb&pg=5360%2C8003868 "Dublin blast"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309040134/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VQMgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TGQFAAAAIBAJ&dq=dublin%20bomb&pg=5360%2C8003868 |date=9 March 2021 }}. ''[[Sun Journal (Lewiston)|The Lewiston Daily Sun]]'', 29 December 1969</ref> There were further attacks in the Republic between October and December 1969. In October, UVF and UPV member Thomas McDowell was killed by the bomb he was planting at [[Ballyshannon]] power station. The UVF stated that the attempted attack was a protest against the Irish Army units "still massed on the border in [[County Donegal]]".<ref>Cusack & McDonald, p. 74</ref> In December, the UVF detonated a [[car bomb]] near the [[Garda Síochána|Garda]] central detective bureau and telephone exchange headquarters in Dublin.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VQMgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TGQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6100%2C7970659 "Irish tighten security after Dublin bombing"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204224542/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VQMgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TGQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6100,7970659 |date=4 December 2020 }}. ''The Lewiston Daily Sun'', 29 December 1969</ref>