Irish History:Bloody Sunday-January 30, 1972

On Sunday January 30, 1972, in an incident since known as Bloody Sunday, twenty-seven people were shot by British soldiers after a civil rights march in the Bogside area of the city of Derry, Northern Ireland. The march was organized by Derry MP Ivan Cooper to protest the internment of Irishmen in Northern Ireland.

Thirteen people were shot dead, with another man later dying of his wounds. The official army position was that the Paratroopers had reacted to the threat of gunmen and nail-bombs from suspected IRA members. However, many witnesses (including marchers, local residents, and British and Irish journalists) challenge the army's account - their claims include that soldiers fired indiscriminately into the crowd, or were aiming at fleeing people and those tending the wounded. Some also claim that the soldiers were not fired upon. No British soldier was hit by any bullet, nor were any bullets recovered after the fact. In the rage that followed, the British embassy in Merrion Square in Dublin was burned by an irate crowd. Anglo-Irish relations hit one of their lowest ebbs, with the Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs, going specially to the United Nations in New York to demand UN involvement in the Northern Ireland troubles.

This incident was featured in U2's song "Sunday, Bloody Sunday."

I can't believe the news today
Oh, I can't close my eyesAnd make it go away
How long?How long must we sing this song?
How long? How long?'
Cause tonight, we can be as oneTonight

Broken bottles under children's feet
Bodies strewn across the dead end street
But I won't heed the battle call
It puts my back up
Puts my back up against the wall

Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday

And the battle's just begun
There's many lost, but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sistersTorn apart

Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday

How long?How long must we sing this song?
How long? How long?
'Cause tonight, we can be as oneTonight, tonight

Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Wipe the tears from your eyes
Wipe your tears away
Oh, wipe your tears away
Oh, wipe your tears away...Sunday, Bloody Sunday...
Oh, wipe your blood shot eyes...Sunday, Bloody Sunday...
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday...
Sunday, Bloody Sunday...
Sunday, Bloody Sunday...

And it's true we are immune
When fact is fiction and TV reality
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die...
Sunday, Bloody Sunday...
The real battle just begun
To claim the victory Jesus won
On...Sunday, Bloody Sunday