A vigil marking the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday will take place at Eyre Square next Saturday, 29 January at 4pm.
The vigil, organised by ÉirÃgÃ, will remember the victims of the British Army’s attack on civilians during a civil rights march in Derry on 30 January 1972.
Thirteen unarmed men and boys were shot dead by British soldiers on Bloody Sunday, with a 14th victim dying five months later from injuries sustained during the massacre.
Many more were injured from gunshot wounds, rubber bullets and two people were run over by Army vehicles.
British soldiers shot a total of 26 civilians during the protest against internment without trial, resulting in the highest number of deaths from a shooting incident during the conflict
Local ÉirÃgà representative Ian Ó Dálaigh said that Bloody Sunday 1972 marked a “turning point in the conflict that had been steadily growing in the Six Counties over the previous four years.”
“It destroyed the myth that the British State was a neutral player in Ireland, that they were trying to keep the lid on a conflict between ‘warring Paddies’.
“The truth is, it was just one of many atrocities committed by British forces in Ireland.”
He said that the truth about Bloody Sunday, and about Britain’s dirty war in Ireland as a whole, has yet to be told.
“Indeed, no one has been prosecuted for the war crimes committed in Derry on January 30th, 1972.”
Ó Dálaigh invited people to join the vigil in Eyre Square at 4pm on Saturday 29 January, to show their support for the ongoing fight for justice for the 14 men and boys murdered in Derry.
