12 August, 1969

"The present events in the Six Counties are the outcome of fifty years of British rule. The civil rights demands, moderate though they are, have shown us that Unionist rule is incompatible with democracy […] The question now is no longer civil rights, but the continuation of British Rule in Ireland." - from a statement by Sinn Féin

Northern Ireland had been smoldering slowly for decades. Gerrymandering, discrimination in voting and housing and police brutality against Catholics had been perpetrated by Protestant sections of the government since the end of the Irish Civil War and the creation of a separate Northern Ireland in 1922. In particular, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), a police force comprised of over 90% Protestants, was accused of abuse and sectarianist violence. Opposition to these policies had steadily grew into a burgeoning civil rights movement through the 1960s, including organizations such as the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) and People's Democracy.

Besides these civil rights associations, paramilitaries on both sides of the divide existed. The most prominent on the Protestant, Unionist side was the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), while on the Catholic Nationalist side was the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a leftover from the Civil War nearly 50 years earlier. Both organizations were legally proscribed in Northern Ireland.

Marches had been held by civil rights activists through late 1968 and 1969, with gradually increasing interference and clashes by both loyalist civilians and the RUC. RUC officers were blamed for the deaths of several civilians who were beaten severely with batons. Rioting, stone-throwing and bombings occurred sporadically. Against this backdrop, the 12th of August would see the beginning of the most violent riots in Northern Ireland.

Battle of the Bogside

The 12th of August marks the anniversary of the victory at the Siege of Derry, a landmark event for the Protestant takeover of Ireland. On that day, the Apprentice Boys of Derry held a march in celebration, along streets very close to Bogside, a Catholic stronghold. Trouble broke out as loyalists dropped pennies from the top of walls above the Bogside. Catholics returned missiles, and, as the parade passed the perimeter of Bogside, the Catholics hurled stones and nails. The confrontation intensified as the police tried to move in between Catholics and Protestants exchanging slingshot stones. Barricades, which the Catholics had hastily thrown up with materials prepared beforehand by the Derry Citizens Defense Association (DCDA), blocked the police advance, so they moved to dismantle it. However, the police were pushed back by petrol bombs thrown from the top of Rossville Flats. The dismantled barricade left a path for Protestants to move in and continue the exchange of stones and petrol bombs between the two sides.

The DCDA effectively coordinated the actions of the Catholic side, setting up stations for the production of petrol bombs and supplying rocks and other missiles, particularly to those atop the Rossville Flats. The police, with ineffective riot shields and being restricted from using guns or armored cars, resorted to firing hundreds of CS Gas containers into the Bogside area.

The next day, 13 August, the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, Jack Lynch, made a speech expressing outrage and distress over the events in Derry. Promising to send the Irish Army to set up field hospitals just across the border from Derry, Lynch's words were interpreted by Nationalists as a promise to send Irish troops to their aid. Unionists were appalled at this prospect and a potential invasion of Northern Ireland. However, the Irish Army remained on its side of the border.

On 14 August, the Ulster Special Constabulary (USC, nicknamed B-Specials), another mostly Protestant reserve police force, was sent in to the area. The police also began to use firearms, with two riots being shot that day. Finally, in the afternoon, the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, James Chichester-Clark, requested for troops to be sent to Derry. Soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the Prince of Wale's Own Regiment of Yorkshire relieved the police; this development was initially welcomed by the Catholics, who saw the soldiers as neutral compared to the sectarian B-Specials and RUC. Over 1,000 were injured in the Battle of the Bogside, but no one was killed; at least three hundred police were seriously injuerd.

Belfast

Belfast, unlike Derry, was majority Protestant, and the Catholics minority was split up and surrounded by loyalists. Late on 12 August, Apprentice Boys arrived back in Belfast after the Derry march, met by pipe bands and welcoming parties of Protestants. Both sides were gripped by tension; the Protestants convinced there was about to be a general insurrection, while the Catholics were convinced they were about to be massacred.

Violence broke out on the night of 13 August. NICRA activists were contacted by activists in Derry, who requested they begin protests in Belfast to draw police away from Derry. In response, the NICRA organized a rally outside the Springfield Road RUC Station. Marching towards the Hastings Street RUC station, the crowd suddenly turned violent when youths attacked the station with stones and petrol bombs. The RUC responded with riot police and Shorland armoured cars. Meanwhile, between the two RUC station flashpoints, an RUC Humber Armoured Car was attacked with small-arms fire and hand grenades of unknown origin. More gunfire and petrol bombs were exchanged between rioters and the police. Barricades were thrown up that night where Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods met.

By 14 August many of those living at the "Interface Areas" fled their homes, afraid of the violence that ensued that night. Loyalists believed the events of the night before had been an organized insurrection by the IRA. The night kicked off with fighting at the Hastings Street RUC station, where a nationalist crowd attacked for a second night. A loyalist mob, armed with stones, petrol bombs, sharpened poles, and dustbin lids for shields, responded, but were held back by nationalist barricades. The RUC and B-Specials pushed into the nationalist crowd, using armoured cars to disperse them. The nationalists later accused the police of collaborating with the loyalist mobs, including providing them with guns and allowing loyalists armed with sharpened poles into their ranks. Gunfire erupted from both loyalist and nationalist civilians. A loyalist crowd led by Ulster Unionist Party MP John McQuade entered the nationalist ghetto and began to burn Catholic homes.

Meanwhile, nationalist gunfire was poured into a crowd of loyalists trying to enter the nationalist ghetto. A civilian was killed and three officers wounded. Believing they were witnessing an IRA insurrection, the police deployed three Shorland armoured cars armed with .30 caliber Browning machine guns. These opened fire on Divis Tower, blasting through at least thirteen flats on Divis Tower, killing a nine-year-old boy and a 20-year-old on the roof, who the police later claimed was armed. Paddy Kennedy, a Republican Labour Party MP, phoned RUC headquarters and begged the Northern Ireland Minister for Home Affairs, Robert Porter, to withdraw the Shorlands. He refused as he, too, believed this was an IRA insurrection.

In other place, loyalists were burning Catholic homes. Nationalists accused the police of collaborating and even assisting the loyalists, who begged the police for their guns. Barricades were smashed with armoured cars and petrol bombs thrown. Nationalist gunfire was responded to with RUC machine-gun fire, which killed two more Catholic civilians in Ardoyne.

The dawn of 15 August saw many Catholics fleeing the rioting. The RUC had withdrawn to its stations and began to request army aid. However, this was slow to arrive, leaving the area unpoliced for several hours. During that time, loyalist mobs attacked the nationalist ghettos again, burning down almost every house on Bombay Street. Gunfire was exchanged between loyalist and nationalist snipers. The army only arrived at night. Gunfire was exchanged between the loyalists and the army, who were only able to dislodge the loyalists with CS gas. Soldiers didn't make it to Ardoyne, where nationalists used 50 flaming buses as barricades. More Catholic homes were burned here, and a Protestant civilian was shot dead.

Close of the Riots

The violence only exhausted on the night of 16 August. Violence in other areas had also erupted; other areas had been called on by the NICRA to also demonstrate to draw the police from Derry. B-Specials opened fire on rioters without orders in Coalisland on 13 August, as well as on 14 August in Armagh and Dungannon. A Catholic civilian was killed in Dungannon. Many RUC offices were attacked with stones and petrol bombs, the last on 17 August, where gunfire was exchanged in Crossmaglen.

The riots resulted in:

• Eight deaths, including five Catholics shot by the RUC, two Protestants shot by nationalist gunmen, and one nationalist shot by loyalist gunmen
• At least 750 people injured, with 133 of those suffering gunshot injuries
• At least 150 Catholic homes and 275 businesses were firebombed
• 1800 families were forced to flee their homes
  • Catholic families mostly fled to the Republic of Ireland while Protestants fled to east Belfast

Clearly, the extreme tensions demonstrated here are not to be relieved any time soon.