1996 Manchester bombing

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Manchester bombing
Corporation Street after the bombing
Location	Manchester, England
Date	15 June 1996 11:17:04[1] (BST)
Attack type	Vehicle bomb
Death(s)	0
Injured	212[1]
Perpetrator(s)	Provisional IRA

The 1996 Manchester bombing was a bomb attack undertaken by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) that occurred on 15 June 1996 in Manchester, England. The bomb, placed in the city centre, targeted the infrastructure and economy of Manchester and caused widespread damage, estimated at £700 million (£900,000,000 as of 2009).^[2]

[edit] Background

The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) was formed in 1969. From 1971 until a truce was called in 1994, it used violence to further its cause.^[3] In 1993, the Downing Street Declaration was signed which would allow Sinn Féin, the political arm of the IRA,^[4][5] to participate on talks about the future of Northern Ireland if the IRA called a cease-fire. On 31 August 1994, the IRA announced its "complete cessation of military operations". The IRA ended their ceasefire on February 9, 1996 by detonating a bomb in Canary Wharf, killing two people.^[6] The IRA then planted 5 other devices in London within the space of 10 weeks.^[7] The seventh device was to be planted in Manchester city centre.^[7] The 1996 bombing was not the first time the IRA had targeted Manchester. A man was imprisoned in 1975 for 15 years for placing two firebombs in Manchester city centre in 1973–1974. In February 1974, a bomb exploded in Manchester magistrates' court, injuring twelve people. IRA bomb factories were discovered in Fallowfield and Salford and five men were imprisoned for planned attacks in North West England.^[6]

[edit] Details of the bombing

Stills taken from India 99, a Greater Manchester Police helicopter, depicting the Ford Cargo van moments before, the explosion taking place, and the smoke plume over the city, dwarfing the adjacent 23-storey highrise, Arndale House.

At about 9:20 am on Saturday 15 June 1996, a Ford Cargo van carrying an 3,000-pound (1,400 kg) explosive device was parked on Corporation Street outside Marks & Spencer, near the Arndale Centre.^[1] The bomb was made from fertiliser, a cheap and easily obtainable explosive.^[8] At 9:43 am, a phone call was made to Granada Studios stating that there was a bomb at the corner of Corporation Street and Cannon Street and that it would explode in one hour. The man making the phone call, who had an Irish accent, gave a code-word so that the police would know the threat was genuine.^[1][9] By 10:00 am, there were an estimated 75,000–80,000 people in the area, variously shopping and working, who had to be evacuated.^[1][10] The task was undertaken by 12 police officers who were based at Bootle Street police station and working with firefighters and security guards, they established a cordon around the area and tried to keep people out of danger.^[1]

The bomb squad arrived 10:46 and attempted to defuse the bomb using a remote-controlled device. They ran out of time, and at 11:17 the bomb blew up in an uncontrolled explosion. An estimated £700 million (£900,000,000 as of 2009)^[2] damage was caused, with a third of the city centre's retail space affected. Marks & Spencers, the sky bridge connecting it with the Arndale Centre, and neighbouring buildings were destroyed.^[1] It was the largest peacetime bomb detonated in Great Britain.^[6] Glass and masonry was thrown into the air, and people behind the police cordon – as far away as 0.5 mi (0.80 km) people were showered by falling debris.^[11] Although no one was killed, 212 people were injured. A search of the area for injured civilians was commenced; mannequins blasted from shop windows were initially thought to be bodies until closer inspection.^[1] More people were expected to be hurt and hospitals across Greater Manchester were made ready to receive casualties.^[1]

[edit] Reaction

The bombing was condemned by John Major's government, the opposition, and by individual MPs as a "sickening", "callous" and "barbaric" terrorist attack.^[12][13] Sinn Féin were criticised by Taoiseach John Bruton for not commenting on the issue in the immediate aftermath. Bruton described the bombing as "a slap in the face to people who've been trying, against perhaps their better instincts, to give Sinn Féin a chance to show that they could persuade the IRA to reinstate the ceasefire".^[14] Early on, suspicion fell on the IRA, with John Major stating that "This explosion looks like the work of the IRA. It is the work of a few fanatics and ... causes absolute revulsion in Ireland as it does here".^[14]

President of the United States, Bill Clinton, stated he was "deeply outraged by the bomb explosion" and joined Bruton and Major in "utterly condemning this brutal and cowardly act of terrorism."^[15]

On 20 June 1996, the IRA claimed responsibility for the bombing and a statement was released that said they "sincerely regretted" causing injury to civilians.^[4]

[edit] Investigation

On 21 April 1999, the Manchester Evening News named a man they described as "a prime suspect in the 1996 Manchester bomb plot."^[16] The paper reported that a file sent by Greater Manchester Police to the Crown Prosecution Service contained "It is the opinion of the investigating officers of GMP that there is sufficient evidence to charge [him] with being a party in a conspiracy to cause explosions in the United Kingdom."^[17] The man denied any involvement.^[18] The Attorney General wrote in a letter to a local MP that advice given to the CPS by an independent lawyer was that "there was not a case to answer on the evidence available ... a judge would stop the case": the Attorney General further wrote that the decision not to prosecute was not influenced by the government. The paper also identified a group of six men, by then already jailed for other offences, as the planners of the attack.^[19][20] All six had been released by July 2000 under the Belfast Agreement of 1998.^[21] King wrote in 2006 "the paper has not so far been sued [for libel]".^[22]

As of 2009, the reporter who broke the story and a policeman accused of being his source are the only people to be arrested in connection with the bombing (the policeman was put on trial and acquitted; during the trial the reporter was found in contempt of court for refusing under examination to reveal his source).^[23] Greater Manchester Police announced in 2006 that there was no realistic chance of convicting those responsible for the bombing.^[24]

At 11:17 BST (10:17 GMT) on 15 June 2006, a candle was lit at a memorial service to mark the tenth anniversary of the bombing.^[25]

[edit] Reconstruction

The epicentre of the blast, in 2009

Insurers paid £411 million (£600,000,000 as of 2009)^[2] in damages, making the bombing, at the time, the most expensive man-made disaster ever.^[26] An estimated 400 businesses within 0.5 mi (0.80 km) of the blast were affected. According to the Home Office, 40% of those businesses never recovered.^[27]

Several buildings close to the centre of the explosion had to be demolished, and many more were closed for months afterwards to allow for structural repairs. Overall, 50,000 square metres of retail space and 25,000 square metres of office space had to be reconstructed. Marks & Spencer had to vacate their building and became tenants of part of the Lewis's store. Since then, the city centre has undergone extensive renovation, along with the more general efforts to regenerate previously deprived areas of the wider city, such as Hulme and helping with other parts of Greater Manchester, such as the Broughton area of the City of Salford.

The Marks & Spencer building and Longridge House, home to Royal Insurance,^[28] were demolished and a new building was rebuilt on the site, which became home to the world's biggest Marks & Spencer branch.^[29] Selfridges later co-occupied the building, the first home to a Selfridges branch in Mancester city centre. Manchester's old buildings which were damaged in the blast, such as the Corn Exchange and the Royal Exchange were fully restored by 1998.^[29] The bulk of the city centre rebuilding work was complete by the end of 1999, and had cost £1.2 billion (£1,500,000,000 as of 2009).^[2][30] Subsequently, further redevelopment of affected buildings (notably the northern corner of the Arndale Centre) was not completed until 2005. Manchester had successfully bid to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games in 1995. Much of the re-development of the City was planned to be completed before the opening ceremony, which meant that some of the more intricate re-building was scheduled for a time after the aesthetic rebuilding had been completed.

A new walkway bridge was constructed to replace the one destroyed in the bombing (see image above of damaged bridge). The new bridge is cylindrical, instead of oblong, but otherwise fits exactly as the original had. The walkway is neither level (sloping downwards from the Manchester Arndale into Marks & Spencer) nor straight, as it was discovered that the original walkway entrances in the two buildings were not directly opposite one another, but slightly askew.

[edit] Pillar box

This pillar box in Manchester city centre survived the bomb blast.

A pillar box that remained intact after the blast, despite being only yards from the centre of the explosion, now carries a small brass plaque recording the bombing. It was removed during construction and redevelopment work, and returned to its original spot once the street reopened.

[edit] References

Notes

Bibliography

[edit] See also

• Chronology of the Northern Ireland Troubles
• Chronology of Provisional IRA actions

[edit] External links

• BBC report of the bombing
• BBC image gallery related to the bombing
• The Manchester Bombing A further report of the bombing.
• Rebuilding Manchester - Comprehensive online resource with over 1,000 photographs illustrating the rebuilding of Manchester City Centre Prepared by Planning Consultant Euan Kellie

Coordinates: 53°29′00″N 2°14′37″W / 53.4833°N 2.2435°W / 53.4833; -2.2435