Leading off the throng were relatives of the slain civil rights fighters, holding pictures of those gunned down by the occupation forces on Jan. 30, 1972, a day known since as Bloody Sunday. Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, central leaders of Sinn Fein, the political party leading the struggle for a united and democratic Ireland, participated in the march and rally.

Thousands joined the protest as the march passed by their homes, including many young people born after the event. Thousands more marched behind banners and pipe bands from all over Ireland. Supporters joined from Glasgow in Scotland, other parts of Britain, Europe, and the United States.

The annual Bloody Sunday demonstrations are among the largest mobilizations in the ongoing fight to end decades of British occupation of Northern Ireland and the division of the country imposed by London.

With the advance of the Irish freedom struggle, and pressure from a campaign of mass mobilization to demand justice in the case, the British government under Labour Party prime minister Anthony Blair agreed in 1998 to a new inquiry into the killings. A previous hearing, called the Widgery commission, was part of a government effort to organize a cover-up. It sought to clear the soldiers, officers, and government officials of any wrongdoing, and placed the blame on Irish freedom fighters for the murderous assault.

The commission hearings, headed by British judge Lord Saville, began last November. Civilian witnesses to the massacre have begun to give testimony, which is screened live in the town's Guildhall and in the Bloody Sunday Center run by relatives.

Other events to commemorate the massacre and press demands for justice included a rally in London January 20 and a meeting attended by 250 in Derry a week later entitled, "The lessons of the Irish hunger strikes."  
 
Civil rights struggle
Sinn Fein leader Francie Molloy reminded the rally in London that the demands of the civil rights movement were for "a house, a job, and the right to vote--not much in a civil society. The Six-County statelet could not give in to those demands and it still cannot recognize the votes of republicans as equal to those of unionists." The 1972 Derry march was called to oppose internment without trial of thousands of civil rights and republican activists by Britain in August 1971.

"Tony Blair still protects the guilty," Molloy said. "Yes, he set up an inquiry, but will he give up the guilty? We see the cover-ups, the dirty tricks, the informers, the undercover agents all planting their stories without producing the evidence."

The lack of confidence in the new commission and the British government was repeated in many speeches at the rally. This is because over the past year London has granted soldiers involved immunity from prosecution; given the Ministry of Defence a Public Immunity Certificate that it can use to withhold information on grounds of "national security"; and announced that all but five rifles used in the massacre have been destroyed.

And recently, a statement from a British MI5 security agent code-named "Infliction" was submitted to the inquiry alleging that Martin McGuinness "has admitted he'd fired the first shot on Bloody Sunday," backing up long-standing British government claims that an Irish Republican Army (IRA) gunman fired first on that day in 1972, prompting army retaliation. This so-called evidence was subsequently discredited by former MI5 officer David Shayler who worked in the counter IRA section. Both Shayler and McGuinness are slated to testify before the Saville commission.

McGuinness said at the annual Bloody Sunday memorial lecture in Derry January 26, that like many, he is "skeptical and suspicious about the ability of the inquiry to establish the truth." McGuinness is an elected member of the Northern Ireland Assembly and its minister of education.

"Elements within the British military and political establishments," McGuinness said, "are attempting to ensure that even if the inquiry concludes that all of those murdered and wounded on Bloody Sunday were totally innocent civilians, nothing will emerge to point the finger at those responsible for planning, authorizing, and executing the strategy adopted in Derry 29 years ago."

Speaking of the dead and wounded of Bloody Sunday, McGuinness stated, "We actually diminish their memories by only referring to them as victims.... The dead and wounded, as well as all of those other thousands of people who marched on that and many other days against injustice were unselfish, courageous Irish people. They were heroes. We always remember them with pride. They made a very conscious decision that internment was wrong...and that they could not just ignore it."

Michael McKinney, a brother of slain civil rights fighter William McKinney, spoke at the rally for the Bloody Sunday campaign. McKinney said the campaign had exposed enough facts to challenge the miscarriages of justice in the 1972 Widgery tribunal. But he condemned the refusal of the Ministry of Defence to testify, and the destruction and concealment of evidence, including state-held photographs and army guns used in the shootings. McKinney appealed to the crowd to continue campaigning. "Just because we've got the inquiry," he said, "don't assume the fight is over."

Joe McKinney, another brother of murdered William McKinney, marched in the 1972 protest and will testify at the inquiry. The British government is trying "to diminish the whole truth," he said in an interview. "How can they say that the MOD [Ministry of Defence] and the government are not responsible? Soldiers don't just make up orders for themselves. American soldiers in Vietnam and soldiers sent to Kosova did things under orders from higher up. The soldiers on Bloody Sunday carried out orders from the highest level of the state and that includes Prime Minister Edward Heath."

Referring to government pledges that soldiers will have immunity from prosecution, Joe McKinney said, "I think the soldiers responsible should be prosecuted. Even if they don't go to prison they should be publicly labeled as murderers. The same should happen to Edward Heath. He gave the orders. We should demand government papers are made available from the joint security chiefs in Stormont and from Westminster."

Martina Anderson, a former republican prisoner from Derry, was a keynote speaker at the London event. The British government, Anderson said, "sought through the tactics of murder and mayhem to use Bloody Sunday as the anvil on which to break the spirit of nationalist resistance in Derry, and by extension across the whole of Ireland. But the military and political establishment never learns the lesson. This strengthened our commitment to struggle against the might of the state."

In addition to being part of a week of activities leading up to the January 30 march, the Derry meeting launched a year of events to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strikes by Irish freedom fighters locked in British jails in which 10 hunger strikers died demanding political status from the British government. A demonstration around the anniversary is planned for Belfast on May 12 with other actions later in Glasgow and London.

At the meeting, a panel of political prisoners included Brendan McFarlane from the Long Kesh prison. He said that the hunger strikers had a profound impact on the subsequent course of the nationalist struggle, including the street mobilizations organized by support committees. "That's one of the lessons we can learn. There is a role for everyone in the struggle. However insignificant it may seem, it's all building blocks in the struggle, whatever age you are."

Drawing parallels with the Bloody Sunday campaign, he added, "There's a sense of achievement, confidence, and involvement when we fight for justice." He appealed for people to get involved in current activities as part of the continuing fight.

Other speakers at the Bloody Sunday weekend events reported actions against ongoing attacks and harassment by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the British troops, and their collusion with rightist loyalist terror gangs. They spoke of their commitment to continue the fight to disband the RUC and for Britain to withdraw from Ireland.

Alana Burke, a speaker at the London event, said she was 18 years old on Bloody Sunday and was severely injured when crushed by an armored vehicle. She said she has only recently felt confident to give evidence to the inquiry, and that speaking publicly is a new experience for her. Later at the demonstration in Derry she told the Militant, "Next year is the 30th anniversary. We'll have an even bigger march then. We're determined to get out the truth."

Celia Pugh and Antonis Partasis work in electronics plants in London.
 
 
Related article:
UK troops out of Ireland  
 
 
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