Editing Bloody Sunday (1972) (section)

==Aftermath==
[[File:Bloody Sunday Banner and Crosses.jpg|thumb|left|Banner and crosses carried by the families of the victims on the annual commemoration march]]
Thirteen people were shot and killed, with another wounded man dying subsequently, which his family believed was from injuries suffered that day.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10138851 |title=The victims of Bloody Sunday |work=BBC News |date=15 June 2010 |access-date=29 January 2017 |archive-date=22 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170422072029/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10138851 |url-status=live}}</ref> Apart from the soldiers, all eyewitnesses—including marchers, local residents, and British and Irish journalists present—maintain that soldiers fired into an unarmed crowd, or were aiming at fleeing people and those helping the wounded. No British soldier was wounded by gunfire or bombs, nor were any bullets or nail bombs recovered to back up their claims.<ref name="12-years"/> The British Army's version of events, outlined by the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] and repeated by [[Home Secretary]] [[Reginald Maudling]] in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] the day after Bloody Sunday, was that paratroopers returned fire at gunmen and bomb-throwers.<ref>{{cite hansard |title=Northern Ireland |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1972/jan/31/northern-ireland |house=House of Commons |date=31 January 1972 |column_start=32 |column_end=43 |speaker=Reginald Maudling }} {{Cite web |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1972/jan/31/northern-ireland |title=NORTHERN IRELAND   |access-date=6 January 2015 |archive-date=24 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324044912/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1972/jan/31/northern-ireland |work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]] |date=31 January 1972 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> [[Bernadette Devlin]], the independent Irish socialist republican [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)|Mid Ulster]], slapped Maudling for his comments,<ref name="bbc1">{{cite news |title=1969: Devlin is youngest-ever woman MP |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/17/newsid_2524000/2524881.stm |publisher=BBC |date=17 April 1969 |access-date=2 June 2007 |archive-date=23 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623151947/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/17/newsid_2524000/2524881.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> and was temporarily suspended from Parliament.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bloody Sunday: the ghosts that won't lie down |author=David McKittrick |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bloody-sunday-the-ghosts-that-wont-lie-down-1285161.html |work=The Independent |location=UK |date=26 January 1997 |access-date=25 March 2020 |archive-date=25 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200325234416/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bloody-sunday-the-ghosts-that-wont-lie-down-1285161.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Having seen the shootings firsthand, she was infuriated that the [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]], [[Selwyn Lloyd]], repeatedly denied her the chance to speak about it in Parliament, although convention decreed that any MP witnessing an incident under discussion would be allowed to do so.<ref>{{cite news |title=Daughters of Ireland |author=Ros Wynne-Jones |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/daughters-of-ireland-1271972.html |work=The Independent |location=UK |date=9 March 1997 |access-date=6 January 2015 |archive-date=6 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106054019/http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/daughters-of-ireland-1271972.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite hansard |house=House of Commons |title=Northern Ireland |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1972/jan/31/northern-ireland |date=31 January 1972 |column_start=32 |column_end=43 }} {{Cite web |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1972/jan/31/northern-ireland |title=NORTHERN IRELAND   |access-date=6 January 2015 |archive-date=24 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324044912/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1972/jan/31/northern-ireland |work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]] |date=31 January 1972 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

On Wednesday 2 February 1972, tens of thousands attended the funerals of eleven of the victims.<ref name="CAIN timeline"/> In the [[Republic of Ireland]] it was observed as a [[national day of mourning]], and there was a [[general strike]], the biggest in Europe since the [[Second World War]] relative to population.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/bloody-sunday-helped-reconcile-southern-nationalists-to-partition-1.453388 |title=Bloody Sunday helped reconcile Southern nationalists to partition |work=Irish Times |access-date=26 September 2015 |archive-date=27 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927120220/http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/bloody-sunday-helped-reconcile-southern-nationalists-to-partition-1.453388 |url-status=live}}</ref> Memorial services were held in Catholic and Protestant churches, as well as synagogues, throughout the Republic, while schools closed and public transport stopped running. Large crowds had besieged the [[Chancery (diplomacy)|chancery]] of the [[Embassy of the United Kingdom, Dublin|British embassy]] on [[Merrion Square]] in [[Dublin]], and embassy staff had been evacuated. That Wednesday, tens of thousands of protesters marched to the chancery and thirteen symbolic coffins were placed outside the entrance. The [[Union Jack]] was burnt and the building was attacked with stones and petrol bombs. The outnumbered [[Gardaí]] tried to push back the crowd, but [[Burning of British Embassy, Dublin|the building was burnt down]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/2/newsid_2758000/2758163.stm |title=1972: British embassy in Dublin destroyed |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121125143705/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/2/newsid_2758000/2758163.stm |archive-date=25 November 2012 |url-status=live |website=BBC News Online |access-date=1 February 2009 |date=2 February 2008}}</ref> [[Anglo-Irish relations]] hit one of their lowest ebbs with the [[Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs]], [[Patrick Hillery]], going to the [[United Nations Security Council]] to demand the involvement of a [[UN peacekeeping]] force in the Northern Ireland conflict.<ref>{{cite book |last=Coogan |first=Tim Pat |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=33sWKhmPl3UC&pg=PA107 |title=The troubles: Ireland's ordeal, 1966–1996, and the search for peace |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2002 |page=107 |isbn=978-1-57098-144-9 |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-date=13 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113222031/https://books.google.com/books?id=33sWKhmPl3UC&pg=PA107 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Kieran Conway]], the head of the IRA's intelligence-gathering department for a period in the 1970s, stated in his memoir that after the massacre, the [[IRA Southern Command]] in Dublin received up to 200 applications from Southern Irish citizens to fight the British.<ref>{{cite book |author=Gearóid Ó Faoleán |title=A Broad Church: The Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland, 1969–1980 |date=April 23, 2019 |pages=41–45 |publisher=Merrion Press |isbn=978-1-7853-7245-2}}</ref>

[[Harold Wilson]], then the [[Leader of the Opposition (UK)|Leader of the Opposition]] in the House of Commons, reiterated his belief that a [[united Ireland]] was the only possible solution to Northern Ireland's Troubles.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kaufmann |first=Eric |title=The Orange Order: A Contemporary Northern Irish History |publisher=OUP Oxford |date=17 May 2007 |pages=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Omhzj_610d4C&q=Harold+Wilson+united+Ireland++only+possible+solution&pg=PA77 |isbn=9780199208487 |access-date=8 November 2020 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310012018/https://books.google.com/books?id=Omhzj_610d4C&q=Harold+Wilson+united+Ireland++only+possible+solution&pg=PA77 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[William Craig (Northern Ireland politician)|William Craig]], then Stormont Home Affairs Minister, suggested that the west bank of Derry should be ceded to the Republic of Ireland.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wharton |first=Ken |author-link=Ken Wharton (writer) |title=The Bloodiest Year 1972: British Soldiers in Northern Ireland in Their Own Words |publisher=The History Press |date=21 October 2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EUU7AwAAQBAJ&q=William+Craig+west+bank+of+Derry&pg=PA46 |isbn=9780752472980 |pages=46 |access-date=8 November 2020 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310013157/https://books.google.com/books?id=EUU7AwAAQBAJ&q=William+Craig+west+bank+of+Derry&pg=PA46 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On 22 February 1972, the Official IRA attempted to retaliate for Bloody Sunday by detonating a [[1972 Aldershot bombing|car bomb at Aldershot military barracks]], headquarters of [[16th Parachute Brigade]], killing seven ancillary staff.<ref name="CAIN timeline"/>

An [[inquest]] into the deaths was held in August 1973. The city's [[coroner]], Hubert O'Neill, a retired British Army major, issued a statement at the completion of the inquest. He declared:
{{blockquote|This Sunday became known as Bloody Sunday and bloody it was. It was quite unnecessary. It strikes me that the Army ran amok that day and shot without thinking what they were doing. They were shooting innocent people. These people may have been taking part in a march that was banned but that does not justify the troops coming in and firing live rounds indiscriminately. I would say without hesitation that it was sheer, unadulterated murder. It was murder.<ref name="CAIN timeline"/>}}

===Shankill shootings===
Several months after Bloody Sunday, 1 Para—again under Lt Col Wilford's command—were involved in another controversial shooting incident. On 7 September, paratroopers raided the headquarters of the [[Ulster Defence Association]] (UDA) and houses in the [[Shankill Road|Shankill]] area of Belfast. Two Protestant civilians were shot dead and others wounded by the paratroopers, who claimed they were returning fire at [[Ulster loyalism|loyalist]] gunmen. This sparked angry demonstrations by local Protestants, and the UDA declared: "Never has Ulster witnessed such licensed sadists and such blatant liars as the 1st Paras. These gun-happy louts must be removed from the streets". A unit of the British Army's [[Ulster Defence Regiment]] refused to carry out duties until 1 Para was withdrawn from the Shankill.<ref>Wood, Ian S. ''Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA''. Edinburgh University Press, 2006. pp. 104–105</ref>

At the end of 1972, Wilford, who was directly in charge of the soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday and Shankill, was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE).<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10287463 |title=Bloody Sunday: Key soldiers involved |work=BBC News |access-date=28 September 2014 |archive-date=4 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141004165801/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10287463 |url-status=live}}</ref>