Northern Ireland commemorates the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a tragedy where British troops opened fire and killed civil rights protesters, prompting decades-long chaos within the region.
Residents from Londonderry, also known as Derry, marked the anniversary of the tragic event five decades after the incident. The day marks the 50th anniversary of the time on Jan. 30, 1972, when a British elite parachute regiment shot 14 Catholic marchers dead on the streets of Northern Ireland's second-largest city.
50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday
Relatives of the victims retraced the steps of the original march in their stage of a walk of remembrance on Sunday. For many of the people who remembered the incident, the memories of that day were still vivid.
Caroline O'Donnell said that she was looking after her five siblings, the youngest of whom was only eight months old. She said that she wanted to go and join the march but her father would not allow her, prompting her to not speak to him, Aljazeera reported.
In 2010, a judicial inquiry found that the victims of the incident 50 years ago were innocent and had posed no threat to the military. However, the commemorations come just months after prosecutors announced that the only British soldier charged with murder will not be facing trial.
The sister of 17-year-old Kevin McElhinney, Jean Hegarty, said that their generation was slowly rotting away. She said that she wanted to see justice be delivered for her sibling who was one of the victims of the horrific incident while she was still alive.
Hegarty said that she supported legal action to be brought onto the soldier that was charged and expressed her desire to see him in a trial. In a statement, she said that while her head was saying no, her heart was saying that she wanted to believe the soldier could still face a court, CNN reported.
Horrifying Tragedy
Additionally, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, St. Eugene's Cathedral in Derry rang its bells 14 times. The number of rings portrays the number of victims of the horrific incident. It was previously reported that there were 13 initial victims and the 14th died later due to his wounds. It was also reported that 15 other people were injured during the shooting.
In a Twitter post, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said that the nation remembered the day as a memory for those who died or were injured as a result of the tragic day. The official called the incident one of the darkest days for the island. He also paid tribute to the families of the victims who he said have had their dignity and persistence in the search for truth and justice stand strong.
The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was the one that organized the march where the violence claimed the lives of the 14 victims. The British troops were believed to have committed the heinous shooting during a period of increased tension between the Catholic nationalists who wanted Northern Ireland to become a part of a unified Ireland and the Protestant unionists who were loyal to the United Kingdom, NPR reported.
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