Ireland calls for justice on 50th anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday’

Ireland has called on Britain to ensure justice for the families of 13 peaceful protesters shot dead by its soldiers on “Bloody Sunday” in 1972 as thousands marked the 50th anniversary of one of the defining days of the Northern Ireland conflict.The British government in 2010 apologised for the “unjustified and unjustifiable” killings of 13 Catholic civil rights protesters by British soldiers in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry on January 30, 1972 – and of a 14th who died later of his wounds.None of those responsible for the shootings has been convicted and last July British prosecutors said that the only British soldier charged with murder will not face trial – a decision that is being challenged by relatives.“There should be a route to justice,” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told state broadcaster RTE after laying a wreath and meeting with relatives of the victims.“As somebody said, our children were buried 50 years ago but we still haven’t laid them to rest ... because we don’t have justice,” he said.Coveney reiterated the Irish government’s opposition to a proposal by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government to halt all prosecutions of soldiers and militants to try to draw a line under the conflict – a move that angered relatives and has been rejected by all the main local political parties.“We absolutely cannot and will not support that approach,” he said.Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin watched as the names of all the Bloody Sunday victims were read out.“The full process of the courts and of justice should be deployed,” he told journalists after the ceremony. “It is important because time is moving on too for many, many families, and families need closure.”The “Bloody Sunday” victims’ names were read out under a leaden sky to the mournful notes of an Irish flute, as the relatives and hundreds of supporters gathered for a memorial service in the city of Londonderry – known as Derry to pro-Irish nationalists.Earlier, many had retraced a peaceful march through the divided city that ended in carnage on January 30, 1972, when the protesters had set out to demand Catholic rights against the city’s Protestant minority.From U2, Bono and The Edge released on social media an acoustic version of Sunday Bloody Sunday, the Irish band’s iconic song about the day.A performance of music and poetry hosted by actor Adrian Dunbar, from TV police drama Line of Duty, included a choral rendition of the US civil rights anthem We Shall Overcome – which was also sung by the 1972 marchers.Michael McKinney, whose brother William was among those killed, said the UK government was “scared” of allowing any prosecutions of the soldiers for fear of what a trial might uncover.However, addressing the remembrance service, he stressed: “We will not go away and we will not be silenced. We shall overcome.”At the head of Sunday’s procession were 14 children each bearing a white rose.The children were followed by older relatives carrying portraits of those killed by members of the British Army’s feared Parachute Regiment.Some of the victims were shot in the back, or while on the ground, or while waving white handkerchiefs, as more than 100 high-velocity rounds ripped across the city’s Catholic Bogside district.No-one from the British government attended yesterday’s events and senior loyalist Northern Irish politicians also stayed away.Johnson in a Twitter post on Saturday described Bloody Sunday as “one of the darkest days of the Troubles” and said Britain must learn from the past.However, his government is pushing legislation that critics say amounts to an amnesty for all killings during Northern Ireland’s three decades of sectarian unrest, including by security forces.More than 3,000 people were killed before the 1998 peace process largely ended years of conflict between Irish nationalist militants seeking unification with the Republic of Ireland and the British Army and loyalists determined to keep the region of Northern Ireland under British rule.