1969 Northern Ireland riots facts for kids
Quick facts for kids 1969 Northern Ireland riots |
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| Part of the Troubles | |
Police clash with rioters in Bogside district in Derry
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| Date | 12–16 August 1969 (5 days) |
| Location | |
| Methods | Demonstrations, rioting, house burnings, gun battles |
| Resulted in |
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| Casualties | |
| 8 killed 750+ injured (including 133 from gunshot wounds) |
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From August 12 to 16, 1969, a lot of fighting broke out across Northern Ireland. This violence was between different political and religious groups. Many people see these five days as the start of a long, difficult period called the Troubles, which lasted for about 30 years. Before this, there had been some smaller fights throughout the year. These happened because people were protesting for civil rights. They wanted an end to unfair treatment against Catholics and Irish nationalists. Sometimes, these peaceful marches were attacked by Protestant loyalists. Protesters also often fought with the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), which was a police force made up mostly of Protestants.
On August 12, a big fight called the Battle of the Bogside started in Derry. For three days, the RUC and thousands of Catholic/nationalist people from the Bogside area clashed fiercely. The people in Bogside built walls to protect themselves. They also set up first aid stations and places to make petrol bombs (homemade fire bombs). For the first time in UK history, police used CS gas (tear gas) against the rioters. To support the people in Bogside, Catholics and nationalists held protests in other parts of Northern Ireland on August 13. Some of these protests also turned violent. The worst fighting happened in Belfast. Seven people died there, and hundreds were hurt. Five of those killed were Catholic civilians shot by the police. Protesters fought with both the police and loyalists, who attacked Catholic areas. Many homes and businesses were burned down, most of them belonging to Catholics. Thousands of families, mostly Catholic, had to leave their homes. In some cases, police seemed to help the loyalists and did not protect Catholic areas. Some people felt this was an attempt to attack the Catholic minority. Both republican and loyalist paramilitary groups (groups that act like armies but are not official) were involved in the clashes. There were also fights between protesters and police in Armagh, where a protester was killed by police. Similar clashes happened in Dungannon and Newry.
The British Army was sent in on August 14 to bring back order. This marked the start of a 37-year operation called Operation Banner. Walls called peace lines were built to separate Catholic and Protestant areas. The government of the Republic of Ireland set up field hospitals (temporary hospitals) and places for people to stay near the border. They also asked for a United Nations peacekeeping force to be sent to Northern Ireland. The British government started an investigation into the riots. The Ulster Special Constabulary (a reserve police force) was also shut down. These riots led to the creation of new groups like the Provisional Irish Republican Army and the Official Irish Republican Army. They also led to the growth of loyalist paramilitary groups like the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
Why the Riots Happened
Northern Ireland became unstable in 1968 due to occasional riots. These riots were linked to the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) campaign. This group wanted fair treatment for Catholics in voting, housing, and jobs. Loyalists, especially those led by Ian Paisley, were against NICRA.
In the summer of 1969, a group called the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) released a report. This report strongly criticized the Northern Ireland Government. It pointed out police brutality, religious discrimination against Catholics, and unfair voting district drawing (called gerrymandering). The ICJ said that laws in Northern Ireland were similar to those used to justify apartheid in South Africa. The Times newspaper reported that the Ulster Special Constabulary (also known as the B-Specials) was seen as the fighting arm of the Protestant Orange Order. The Belfast Telegraph newspaper reported that the ICJ had added Northern Ireland to a list of places where human rights were not properly protected.
Events Before the August Riots
The first big clash between Catholic civil rights activists and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) happened in Derry on October 5, 1968. The RUC, which was mostly Protestant, used batons to break up a NICRA march. The prime minister of Northern Ireland, Terence O'Neill, was worried about more violence. He promised changes if protests stopped.
Despite these promises, in January 1969, a group called People's Democracy marched from Belfast to Derry. Loyalists, including off-duty B-Specials, attacked the marchers. The worst attack was at Burntollet Bridge. The RUC did not protect the marchers well. This, and the RUC entering the Catholic Bogside area of Derry, led to serious riots there.
In March and April 1969, there were six bomb attacks on power and water systems. These caused blackouts and water shortages. At first, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was blamed. But it was later found that loyalist groups, the Ulster Protestant Volunteers (UPV) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), did the bombings. They wanted to blame the IRA, make the government unstable, and stop the promised changes.
Some changes did start in early 1969. On April 23, members of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in the Northern Ireland parliament voted to allow all adults to vote in local elections. This idea of "one man, one vote" was a main demand of the civil rights movement. Five days later, O'Neill resigned and James Chichester-Clark took over. Even though Chichester-Clark had disagreed with the voting changes, he said he would continue O'Neill's reforms.
However, street violence kept getting worse. On April 19, there were serious riots in the Bogside after NICRA marchers clashed with the RUC. A Catholic man, Samuel Devenny, was badly beaten by the RUC and later died. On July 12, during the Protestant Orange Order's Twelfth of July marches, there were bad riots in Derry, Belfast, and Dungiven. Many families in Belfast had to leave their homes. Another Catholic civilian, Francis McCloskey (67), died after being hit by RUC officers during a riot in Dungiven.
The Battle of the Bogside
All this unrest led to a huge battle in Derry from August 12 to 14, known as the Battle of the Bogside. A yearly march by the Protestant loyalist Apprentice Boys of Derry went near the Catholic Bogside area. People started throwing stones. The RUC, on foot and in armored vehicles, pushed back the Catholic crowd and tried to enter the Bogside. Loyalists followed, breaking windows of Catholic homes. Thousands of Bogside residents gathered to defend their area. They fought back the RUC with stones and petrol bombs. They built walls (barricades), set up workshops to make petrol bombs, and first aid stations. A radio station called "Radio Free Derry" broadcast messages, asking "every able-bodied man in Ireland who believes in freedom" to defend the Bogside.
The police were overwhelmed and started throwing stones back. Loyalists also helped them. Police fired CS gas into the Bogside. This was the first time tear gas had been used by police in the UK. The people in Bogside were afraid that the B-Specials, the all-Protestant police reserves, would be sent in and attack them. On August 13, NICRA asked for protests across Northern Ireland. They hoped this would draw police away from the fighting in Derry. That night, NICRA said:
A war of genocide (mass killing) is about to start in the North. The CRA asks all Irish people to help each other. It calls on the Government and people of the Twenty-six Counties (Republic of Ireland) to act now to stop a huge national disaster. We urgently ask the Government to immediately ask the United Nations to send a Peace-keeping Force to Derry.
Violence in Other Areas
To help the people in Bogside, NICRA asked for protests in other towns across Northern Ireland. A report called the Scarman Report said that the spread of the fighting was "due to a clear decision by some minority groups to reduce police pressure on the rioters in Londonderry." NICRA was one of these groups.
On the evening of August 11, a riot started in Dungannon after a NICRA protest. The RUC used batons to push nationalist rioters back. There were claims that the police used too much force. The next night, republicans attacked police stations in Coalisland, Strabane, and Newry. More riots happened on August 13 in Dungannon, Coalisland, Dungiven, Newry, and Armagh. In Coalisland, the B-Specials fired at rioters without orders but were quickly told to stop.
On August 14, riots continued in Dungannon, Armagh, and Newry. In Dungannon and Armagh, the B-Specials again fired at rioters. They fired 24 shots on Cathedral Road in Armagh, killing Catholic civilian John Gallagher and hurting two others. In Newry, nationalist rioters surrounded the police station and attacked it with petrol bombs. In Crossmaglen on August 17, the IRA attacked the police station and left after a gunfight.
How People Reacted
On August 13, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Jack Lynch spoke on television. He said that the Irish Defence Forces (Irish army) were setting up field hospitals along the Irish border. He also asked for the United Nations to get involved. He said:
It is clear that the Stormont Government (Northern Ireland government) is no longer in control. This situation is what happens after decades of their policies. It is also clear that the Irish Government cannot just watch innocent people get hurt. It is obvious that the R.U.C. is no longer seen as a fair police force. British troops would not be accepted either [...] So, the Irish Government has asked the British Government to immediately ask the United Nations to send a Peace-keeping Force [...] We have also asked the British Government to make sure police attacks on the people of Derry stop right away.
When the Irish government met on August 14 and 15, they decided to send troops to protect the field hospitals. They also called up army reserves to be ready for "peace-keeping operations." This, along with Lynch's statement, led to rumors that Irish troops were about to cross the border and get involved. On August 16, three Irish nationalist members of the Northern Ireland parliament went to Dublin. They asked the Irish government to send guns to protect Catholics in Northern Ireland, but they were refused.
The prime minister of Northern Ireland, James Chichester-Clark, replied: "In this serious situation, the Dublin Government's behavior has been terrible. It has made feelings worse on both sides." On August 14, he said in the Northern Ireland parliament:
This is not a minority group trying to get political rights legally. It is a plan by groups trying to overthrow a government that was chosen by a large majority. I don't know what these young troublemakers want beyond cheap thrills. But I am sure of this – they are being controlled and encouraged by those who want to make this Government look bad and overthrow it.
Chichester-Clark denied that his government was not doing enough to make the changes the civil rights movement wanted. He also said this was not the cause of the violence. Instead, he said, "The real reason for the disorder is the actions of extreme Republican groups and others who want to destroy our State."
On August 23, Catholic Cardinal William Conway, along with other Catholic bishops, released a statement. It said:
The truth is that last Thursday and Friday, the Catholic areas of Falls and Ardoyne were attacked by mobs with machine-guns and other firearms. A community that had almost no defense was hit by gunfire, and streets of Catholic homes were systematically set on fire. We completely reject the idea that last week's tragedy was an armed uprising.
The Irish republican party, Sinn Féin, said in a statement, "The current events in the Six Counties (Northern Ireland) are the result of fifty years of British rule. The civil rights demands, even though they are moderate, have shown us that Unionist rule is not compatible with democracy [...] The issue now is no longer civil rights, but whether British rule in Ireland will continue."
Representatives from the British and Northern Ireland governments, including Chichester-Clark and British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, met for two days starting on August 19. They released a statement at the end of the first day. It confirmed that Northern Ireland would stay part of the United Kingdom unless its people decided otherwise. It also stated that only the Northern Ireland and British governments were responsible for affairs in Northern Ireland. The Irish government failed to get the United Nations to vote on a resolution about Northern Ireland.
In late August, the Northern Ireland government announced an investigation into the riots. It was led by Justice Scarman and became known as the "Scarman Inquiry." A committee led by Baron Hunt was also set up to look into changing the RUC and the B-Specials. This led to the B-Specials being disbanded.
Injuries and People Who Fled
The riots slowly stopped by Sunday, August 17. By the end of the riots:
- Eight people had been killed. This included:
- Five Catholics shot dead by the RUC.
- Two Protestants shot dead by nationalist gunmen.
- One Fianna (republican youth group) member shot dead by loyalist gunmen.
- More than 750 people were injured. 133 of them (72 Catholics and 61 Protestants) had gunshot wounds.
- More than 150 Catholic homes and 275 businesses were destroyed. 83% of all destroyed buildings belonged to Catholics.
Between July, August, and September 1969, over 1,820 families had to leave their homes. This included:
- 1,505 Catholic families.
- 315 Protestant families.
Catholics usually fled across the border into the Republic of Ireland. Protestants usually fled to east Belfast. The Irish Defence Forces set up refugee camps in the Republic. At one point, the Gormanston refugee camp held 6,000 people who had fled Northern Ireland.
What Happened Next
The August riots were the worst violence Northern Ireland had seen since the early 1920s. Many Protestants, loyalists, and unionists believed the violence showed that the Catholic civil rights movement was actually a cover for the IRA and an armed uprising. They had mixed feelings about British troops being sent in. Eddie Kinner, who later joined the UVF, remembered the troops marching down his street with bayonets. He and his neighbors felt like their "own army" was invading them.
On the other hand, Catholics and nationalists saw the riots (especially in Belfast) as an attack on their community by loyalists and the government forces. The riots are often called the beginning of the Troubles. Violence greatly increased in Northern Ireland after these events. New paramilitary groups formed on both sides. The most notable was the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in December of that year. On the loyalist side, the UVF gained strength from the riots. In 1971, another paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), was formed. It was a mix of loyalist fighters who had been active since August 1969. While the thousands of British troops sent to Northern Ireland were first seen as neutral, they quickly got involved in the street violence. By 1971, they were mostly focused on fighting republican paramilitary groups.
The IRA's Role
The IRA's part in the riots has been debated for a long time. At the time, the Northern Ireland authorities blamed the organization for the violence. However, the IRA was not well prepared to defend nationalist areas of Belfast. They had few weapons or members on the ground. The Scarman Inquiry concluded:
There was certainly an IRA influence in some groups in Derry, Belfast, and Newry. But they did not start the riots or plan them. In fact, the evidence shows that the IRA was surprised and did less than many of their supporters thought they should have done.
In Catholic areas, the IRA was reportedly blamed for not protecting neighborhoods like Bombay Street and Ardoyne from being burned. A Catholic priest, Fr Gillespie, said that in Ardoyne, graffiti called the IRA "I Ran Away." However, IRA veterans who spoke to authors Brian Hanley and Scott Millar disagreed. One, Sean O'Hare, said, "I never saw it written on a wall. That wasn't the feeling. People supported the IRA 100%." Another, Sean Curry, remembered "some people were a bit angry but most praised those who did defend the area. They knew that if the men weren't there, the area wouldn't have been defended."
At the time, the IRA said on August 18 that it had been "in action in Belfast and Derry." It also said that "fully equipped units had been sent to the border." It claimed it was "forced into action by Orange murder gangs." It warned the British Army that if it "was used to suppress the fair demands of the people they will have to face the consequences." It also urged the Irish government to send the Irish Army over the border. Cathal Goulding, the IRA Chief of Staff, sent small groups from Dublin, Cork, and Kerry to border counties. These groups were ordered to attack RUC posts in Northern Ireland. This was meant to reduce pressure on Belfast and Derry. A total of 96 weapons and 12,000 rounds of ammunition were also sent to the North.
Still, the IRA's poor weapons and military readiness in August 1969 led to a big split within the IRA in Belfast. In September 1969, a group of IRA men led by Billy McKee and Joe Cahill said they would no longer take orders from the IRA leadership in Dublin. They also refused orders from Billy McMillen, their commander in Belfast. They felt that not enough weapons or planning had been provided to defend Catholic areas. In December 1969, they broke away to form the 'Provisional' IRA. They promised to defend areas from attacks by loyalists and the RUC. The other part of the IRA became known as the 'Official' IRA. Soon after it formed, the Provisionals started an attack campaign against Northern Ireland.
The RUC and USC's Actions
The actions of the police during the riots are one of the most argued-about topics. Nationalists say that the RUC acted unfairly. They claim the police helped loyalists who were attacking Catholic neighborhoods. There were also strong suggestions that police knew when loyalist attacks would happen. They seemed to leave some Catholic areas just before loyalist mobs attacked. This made many Catholics and nationalists lose trust in the police. Later, this allowed the IRA to effectively take over policing in Catholic areas. In his book From Civil Rights to Armalites, nationalist writer Niall Ó Dochartaigh says that the actions of the RUC and USC (B-Specials) were a key reason the conflict got worse. He wrote:
From the start, how the government and its police forces reacted to Catholic protests made people much angrier than the original issues. Police behavior and their interactions with loyalist protesters probably did more to get large parts of the Catholic community involved in politics than any other complaints.
The Scarman Inquiry found that the RUC was "seriously at fault" at least six times during the riots. Specifically, they criticized the RUC for using heavy machine-guns in populated areas. They also criticized them for not stopping Protestants from burning Catholic homes. And for leaving the streets long before the Army arrived. However, the Scarman Report concluded, "Mistakes were certainly made, and some individual officers acted wrongly. But the general idea of a biased force working with Protestant crowds to attack Catholic people is not true, and we completely reject it." The report argued that the RUC was understaffed and poorly led. It said their actions were because they believed they were dealing with a planned IRA uprising. They pointed to the RUC breaking up loyalist rioters in Belfast on August 2–4 as proof of the force's fairness.
About the B-Specials, the Scarman Report said:
There were serious problems, well known to those in charge, with using the USC in community disturbances. In 1969, the USC had no Catholics. It was a force made up only of Protestants. Catholics completely distrusted them, seeing them as the strong arm of Protestant power. They could not show themselves in a Catholic area without making things worse. Also, they were not trained or equipped for riot control.
The report found that the B-Specials had fired at Catholic protesters in Dungiven, Coalisland, Dungannon, and Armagh, causing injuries. This "was a careless and irresponsible thing to do." It found that B-Specials had, at times, sided with loyalist mobs. There were reports that B-Specials were seen hiding among loyalist mobs, using coats to hide their uniforms. Still, the Scarman Report concluded "there are no reasons to single out mobilized USC as being guilty of bad behavior."
More to Learn
- 1886 Belfast riots
- Exercise Armageddon
- "The Night We Burned Ardoyne"
- Bloody Sunday
- Drumcree conflict
- 1992 Coalisland riots
- 1997 nationalist riots in Northern Ireland
- Protests of 1968
