Bloody Sunday commemoration 2009
26/01/09
On Sunday, January 30, 1972 the Parachute Regiment of the British Army shot dead 14 civilians in Derry. It was a calculated attempt to destroy the civil rights movement, quell social upheaval and undermine the revolutionary potential of that time. Seven of the dead were children under 17 years of age. Bloody Sunday and the events that followed from it encapsulate all that British interference in Irish affairs has ever meant – oppression and injustice.
Every year since that tragic day thousands of people have gathered with the families of the victims to march the route of the anti-internment parade which was shot off the streets. Every year the British government has been challenged to admit the state murder of innocent civilians.
Through almost forty years of protest, lobbying and inquiries every consecutive British government has hidden the truth by refusing to recognise the innocence of the victims and the brutality of their armed forces. In 2009 we march again. As draconian legislation pertains, as political prisoners remain imprisoned, as the civil rights remain undermined, and as the same army rampages across other poor countries with similar bloodlust, we march again.
éirígí are calling on all progressives to make their way to Derry city again this year to remember the victims of British state violence, to condemn the British government of the past and challenge the British government of the present. The 14 people killed in Derry 37 years ago were innocent. The people of Ireland and the world know it. The government responsible for their deaths continues to hamper investigations and inquiries, to hide evidence and protect the perpetrators.
On Sunday 1st of February republicans, socialists, democrats, and humans rights activists – progressives of all hues – will march again to tell the British government that we have not forgotten and remind them that the quest for justice will continue until justice is done.
The march will assemble at Creggan shops, Creggan, Derry at 2.30pm on Sunday February 1, 2009. For more information on travel arrangements contact info@eirigi.org