Bloody Sunday 1972 4
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Bloody Sunday 1972 THE TROUBLES IN Read the article below and answer the questions that follow. NORTHERN IRELAND The sources below chart the events of Bloody Sunday. Source 1 is an article from the Irish Independent, while Source 2 is from the official report into the events of Bloody Sunday. LSource 1 Monday, 31 January Thirteen men were killed and at least 17 others injured when soldiers of the Parachute Regiment appeared to fire indiscriminately on a crowd of demonstrators in Derry yesterday. British opposition MPs were last night calling the callous killings ‘a Bloody Sunday’ and ‘mass Analysing Sources murder by the army’. Analysing Sources Dr Edward Daly, a Bogside parish priest, said: ‘The British Army should hang its head in shame after today’s disgusting violence. They shot indiscriminately and everywhere around them without any provocation’. The crowd was listening to speeches at Free Derry corner after their bid to march to Guildhall Square was blocked by soldiers using a water cannon, rubber bullets and CS gas. The British Labor peer, Lord Fenner Brockway was just beginning a speech when bullets ripped into the crowd, causing widespread panic. Demonstrators dived for cover as troops stood at the end of Rossville Street firing their automatic weapons. When the shooting finally stopped, blood- strewn figures could be seen on the ground. The commander of land forces in the North, General Ford, said his men had come under attack from snipers from a nearby building, but, even if true, this does not explain the killing of unarmed civilians. In a statement, a group of Catholic priests, who had witnessed the events, said the paratroopers had engaged in ‘willful murder’. (Source: 13 civilians shot dead, Irish Independent, 1971) LSource 2 There would have been no deaths in Londonderry on 30 January if those who organised the illegal march had not thereby created a highly dangerous situation in which a clash between demonstrators and the security forces was almost inevitable ... None of the deceased or wounded is proved to have been shot whilst handling a firearm or bomb. Some are wholly acquitted of complicity in such action; but there is a strong suspicion that some others had been firing weapons or handling bombs in the course of the afternoon and that yet others had been EDUCATION closely supporting them. GILL (Source: Widgery report on Bloody Sunday, 1972) © 26 APTER H 1. How many people were killed on Bloody Sunday? __________________________ C • 2. What was the crowd doing when the shooting started? _______________________ K BOO ______________________________________________________________________ 3. How did General Ford explain the action of his soldiers? ______________________ RESOURCE S ’ ER ______________________________________________________________________ H TEAC ______________________________________________________________________ Y Y 4. Does Source 1 agree with Ford’s explanation? Explain your answer. ____________ ISTOR H ING K ______________________________________________________________________ A ______________________________________________________________________ M 177 03 Making History TRB.indd 177 10/07/2018 13:10 THE TROUBLES IN NORTHERN IRELAND 5. Who does Source 2 hold responsible for the deaths? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 6. Does Source 2 try to justify the killings? Support your answer with evidence from the text. _______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 7. Which source do you think is more reliable? Explain your answer. ______________________________________________________________________ Analysing Sources Analysing Sources ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 8. List three steps that you would take to try and accurately research a controversial event. (i) __________________________________________________________________ (ii) __________________________________________________________________ (iii) __________________________________________________________________ Follow-up exercise: Create a headline that would appear in (i) a nationalist newspaper and (ii) a unionist newspaper describing the events of Bloody Sunday. For each heading consider the following: ● Who started the events of that day? ● Who was responsible? (i) Nationalist headline: ____________________________________________________ (ii) Unionist headline: _____________________________________________________ EDUCATION GILL © 26 APTER H C • K BOO RESOURCE S ’ ER H TEAC Y Y ISTOR H ING K A M 178 03 Making History TRB.indd 178 10/07/2018 13:10.