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Free Derry

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File:Derry mural.jpg
"Free Derry Corner" at the corner of Lecky Road and Fahan Street in the Bogside. The slogan was first painted in January 1969 by John Casey.

Free Derry was a self-declared autonomous nationalist area of Derry, Northern Ireland, between 1969 and 1972.

Residents of the area built barricades and carried firearms to prevent the armed police forces, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the Ulster Special Constabulary (B Specials), and later the British Army from operating in the area. Both the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA were recognised by the residents and were active in the area.

Name and location

The mural in August 2007.

The name "Free Derry" was taken from a sign painted on a gable wall on the corner of Lecky Road and Fahan Street in January 1969 which read: “You are now entering Free Derry" (that corner subsequently became known as "Free Derry Corner"). The area was initially referred to in the media simply as "the area" [1], and later as "the no-go area of Derry."[2] The background of the mural was temporarily painted pink in July 2007 for the Gasyard Feile and Foyle Pride Week.[3]

The Museum of Free Derry[4] uses the term to describe "the area covering the Bogside, Brandywell, Creggan, Bishop Street and Foyle Road."

Background

Derry City lies on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It has always had a majority nationalist population. Until the 1960s, however, the Ulster Unionist Party had a majority on the local council, Londonderry Corporation. The unionists maintained their majority by manipulating the constituency boundaries (gerrymandering), by allowing only ratepayers to vote in local elections (as opposed to one man, one vote) and by denying houses to nationalists outside "their" constituency of South Ward [5]. The result was that there were far more nationalist families (about 2,000) than unionists (practically none) on the housing waiting list, and that housing inside the South Ward (which corresponded closely with what would become Free Derry[4]) was crowded and of a very poor condition.[5]

The Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC) was formed in March 1968 by members of the Derry Branch of the Northern Ireland Labour Party and the James Connolly Republican Club,[6] including Eamonn McCann and Eamonn Melaugh. It disrupted a meeting of Londonderry Corporation in March 1968 and again in May, blocked traffic by placing a caravan that was home to a family of four in the middle of the Lecky Road in the Bogside, and staged a sit-down protest at the opening of the second deck of the Craigavon Bridge.[7] After the meeting of Londonderry Corporation was again disrupted in August, Eamonn Melaugh telephoned the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) and invited them to hold a march in Derry. The date chosen was 5 October 1968, an adhoc committee was formed (although in the event most of the organizing was done by McCann and Melaugh[7]) and the route was to take the marchers inside the city walls, where nationalists were traditionally not permitted to march.[8] The Minister for Home Affairs, William Craig, made an order on 3 October prohibiting the march on the grounds that the Apprentice Boys of Derry were intending to hold a march on the same day. When the marchers attempted to defy the ban on 5 October they were stopped by a police (Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)) cordon. A number of people, including Stormont MP Eddie McAteer and Westminster MP Gerry Fitt were struck by batons.[9] Subsequently the police "broke ranks and used their batons indiscriminately on people in Duke Street". Marchers trying to escape met another party of police and "these police also used their batons indiscriminately."[10] Water cannons were also used. The police action caused outrage in the nationalist area of Derry, and at a meeting four days later the Derry Citizens' Action Committee (DCAC) was formed, with John Hume as chairman and Ivan Cooper as vice-chairman.[11]

The first barricades

Another group formed as a result of the events of 5 October was People's Democracy, a group of students in Queen's University Belfast. They organized a march of about forty young people from Belfast to Derry in support of civil rights, starting out on 1 January 1969.[12] The march met with violent opposition from anti-civil rights counter-demonstrators at several points along the route. Finally, at Burntollet Bridge, five miles outside Derry, they were attacked by a mob of about two hundred wielding clubs, some of them studded with nails, and stones. The police, who were at the scene, failed to protect them. Dozens of marchers were taken to hospital. The remainder continued on to Derry where they were attacked once more on their way to Craigavon Bridge before they finally reached Guildhall Square, where they held a rally.[12] Rioting broke out after the rally. Police drove rioters into the Bogside, but did not come after them. In the early hours of the following morning, 5 January, members of the RUC charged into St. Columb's Wells and Lecky Road in the Bogside, breaking windows and beating residents.[1] In his report on the disturbances, Lord Cameron remarked that "for such conduct among members of a disciplined and well-led force there can be no acceptable justification or excuse" and added that "its effect in rousing passions and inspiring hostility towards the police was regrettably great."[13]

That afternoon over 1,500 Bogside residents built barricades, armed themselves with steel bars, wooden clubs and hurleys, and told the police that they would not be allowed into the area. DCAC chairman John Hume told a meeting of residents that they were to defend the area and no-one was to come in.[1] Groups of men wearing armbands patrolled the streets in shifts. John 'Caker' Casey, a local activist, painted "You are now entering Free Derry" in white paint on the gable wall of a house on the corner of Lecky road and Fahan Street.[14] That corner, which was a popular venue for meetings, later became known as "Free Derry Corner". On 7 January, the barricaded area was extended to include the Creggan, another nationalist area on a hill overlooking the Bogside.[15] A pirate radio station calling itself "Radio Free Derry" began broadcasting to residents[16], playing rebel songs and encouraging resistance.[17] On a small number of occasions attempting law-breakers were dealt with by the patrols.[18] Despite all this, however, the Irish Times reported that "the infrastructure of revolutionary control in the area has not been developed beyond the maintenance of patrols."[16] Following some acts of destruction and of violence late in the week, members of the DCAC including Ivan Cooper addressed residents on Friday 10 January and called on them to dismantle the barricades. The barricades were taken down the following morning.[19]

April 1969

Over the next three months there were several violent clashes, with local youths throwing stones at police.[20] Violence came to a head on Saturday 19 April after a planned march from Burntollet Bridge to the city centre was banned. A protest in the city centre led to clashes with 'Paisleyites' (members of the unionist community in sympathy with the anti-civil rights stance of Ian Paisley). Police attempting to drive the protestors back into the Bogside were themselves driven back to their barracks. A series of pitched battles followed, and barricades were built (under the supervision of Bernadette Devlin, newly-elected MP for Mid Ulster).[21] Police pursuing rioters broke into a house in William Street and severely beat the occupant, Samuel Devenny, his family and two friends. Devenny was brought to hospital "bleeding profusely from a number of head wounds."[22] At midnight four hundred RUC men in full riot gear and carrying riot shields occupied the Bogside.[23] Convoys of police vehicles drove through the area with headlights blazing.[24]

The following day several thousand residents, led by the DCAC, withdrew to the Creggan and issued an ultimatum to the RUC — withdraw within two hours or be driven out. With fifteen minutes of the two hours remaining, the police marched out through the Butcher's Gate, even as the residents were entering from the far side.[23] The barricades were not maintained on this occasion, and routine patrols were not prevented.

Samuel Devenny suffered a heart attack four days after his beating. On 17 July he suffered a further heart attack and died.[25] Thousands attended his funeral, and the mood was sufficiently angry that it was clear the annual Apprentice Boys' parade, scheduled for 12 August, could not take place without causing serious disturbance.

August – October 1969

The Apprentice Boys' parade is an annual celebration by unionists of the relief of the Siege of Derry in 1689, which began when thirteen young apprentice boys shut the city's gates against the army of King James. At that time the parade was held on 12 August each year. Participants from across Northern Ireland and Britain marched along the city walls above the Bogside, and many were openly hostile to the residents.[26] On 30 July 1969 the Derry Citizens Defence Association (DCDA) was formed to try to preserve peace during the period of the parade, and to defend the Bogside and Creggan in the event of an attack. The chairman was Seán Keenan, an Irish Republican Army (IRA) veteran; the vice-chairman was Paddy Doherty, a popular local man sometimes known as "Paddy Bogside" and the secretary was Johnnie White, another leading republican and leader of the James Connolly Republican Club. Street committees were formed under the overall command of the DCDA and barricades were built on the night of 11 August.[27] The parade took place as planned on 12 August. As it passed through Waterloo Place, on the edge of the Bogside, hostilities began between supporters and opponents of the parade. Fighting between the two groups continued for two hours, then the police charged up William Street, followed by the 'Paisleyites'. They were met with a hail of stones and petrol bombs. The ensuing battle became known as the Battle of the Bogside. Late in the evening, having been driven back repeatedly, the police fired canisters of CS gas into the crowd. Youths on the roof of a high-rise block of flats on Rossville Street threw petrol bombs down on the police.[28] Walkie-talkies were used to maintain contact between different areas of fighting and DCDA headquarters in Paddy Doherty's house in Westland Street[29], and first aid stations were operating, staffed by doctors, nurses and volunteers. Women and girls made milk-bottle crates of petrol bombs for supply to the youths in the front line[30] and "Radio Free Derry" broadcast to the fighters and their families. On the third day of fighting, 14 August, the Northern Ireland Government mobilised the Ulster Special Constabulary (B-Specials), a force greatly feared by nationalists in Derry and elsewhere.[28] Before they engaged, however, British troops appeared at the scene, carrying automatic rifles and sub-machine guns. The RUC and B-Specials withdrew, and the troops took up positions outside the barricaded area.

A deputation including Eamon McCann met senior army officers and told them that the army would not be allowed in until certain demands were met, including the disarming of the RUC, the disbandment of the B-Specials and the abolition of Stormont (the Parliament and Government of Northern Ireland). The officers agreed that neither troops nor police would enter the Bogside and Creggan districts.[31] A 'peace corps' was formed to maintain law and order. When the British Home Secretary, Jim Callaghan, visited Northern Ireland and announced his intention to visit the Bogside on 28 August, he was told that he would not be allowed to bring either police or soldiers with him. Callaghan agreed.[32] Accompanied by members of the Defence Committee, he was "swept along by a surging crowd of thousands" up Rossvile Street and into Lecky Road, where he "took refuge" in a local house,[33]and later addressed crowds from an upstairs window. In preparation for Callaghan's visit the "Free Derry" wall was painted white and the "You are now entering Free Derry" sign was professionally re-painted in black lettering.[34]

The autonomy was celebrated by a "Liberation Fleadh" on 30 August-31 August, 1969. Many well-known Irish entertainers performed, including The Dubliners, Tommy Makem and the cast and puppets from a popular children's television show, Wanderly Wagon.[35] Makem, best known as a member of ballad group The Clancy Brothers, sang his composition Four Green Fields, which was emotionally received and became an anthem for republicans in the following years.

During this time, the Irish Republican Army split into the Provisional IRA and the Official IRA. Both factions had a presence in Free Derry and organised attacks from the "no-go" area on British Army troops. A community alert system, often neighborhood women banging garbage can lids, was used to alert the IRA to patrols by the security forces into the area.

Operation Motorman

Main article: Operation Motorman

The level of violence in the city escalated considerably after Bloody Sunday, when fourteen civil rights protesters were shot dead by British troops in the Bogside in January 1972. The Official IRA called off its campaign in May of that year after local people demonstrated against their killing of a local youth who was home on leave from the British Army. The Provisional IRA (PIRA), which would become the dominant faction, continued its armed actions.

Free Derry represented a major security problem for the authorities, as it provided a base for IRA attacks. For this reason, the British Army mounted a major operation, known as Operation Motorman, to re-take the area and re-establish control over it. On 31 July 1972 several thousand British troops, equipped with tanks, armoured cars and armoured bulldozers, dismantled the barricades and occupied the area. The PIRA did not resist as it did not have the numbers, arms or training to take on a British operation of this magnitude. This represented the end of "Free Derry", as an autonomous zone.

References

  1. ^ a b c 1,500 arm to defend their area, Irish Times, 6 January 1969
  2. ^ Dominating no-go areas was military "end game", UTV, 23 November 2000
  3. ^ "'Free Derry' is pink with pride", BBC News
  4. ^ a b Museum of Free Derry website
  5. ^ a b The Campaign for Social Justice in Northern Ireland, Londonderry: One man, no vote 19 February 1965 (CAIN)
  6. ^ McCann page 27
  7. ^ a b The Derry March - Chronology of Events Surrounding the March (CAIN)
  8. ^ McCann page 37
  9. ^ Cameron, chapter 4, paragraph 49
  10. ^ Cameron, chapter 4, paragraph 51
  11. ^ McCann page 45
  12. ^ a b Bowes Egan and Vincent McCormack, Burntollet (1969) ISBN 0-95014-510-6 (CAIN Web Service)
  13. ^ Cameron, chapter 14, paragraph 177
  14. ^ A photograph of an RUC investigator passing that original sign was printed in the Irish Times on 8 January 1969 (page 11).
  15. ^ Irish Times, 8 January 1969
  16. ^ a b Advice given for Derry 'Revolution', Irish Times, 11 January 1969, page 14
  17. ^ McCann page 56
  18. ^ Calmer weekend in Derry, Irish Times, 10 January 1969
  19. ^ Derry barricades to come down, Irish Times, 11 January 1969
  20. ^ McCann, page 56
  21. ^ Devlin, pages 184 – 186
  22. ^ Ombudsman's Report, section 3: The incident at the Devenny home
  23. ^ a b RUC obey Bogside ultimatum, Irish Times, 21 April 1969
  24. ^ Devlin, page 187
  25. ^ Ombudsman's Report, section 5: Mr. Devenny's death
  26. ^ McCann, page 21
  27. ^ McCann, pages 58 – 59
  28. ^ a b Museum of Free Derry: History – Battle of the Bogside
  29. ^ McCann, page 60
  30. ^ Bogside like war-devastated area, Irish Times, 13 August 1969
  31. ^ McCann, page 64
  32. ^ Callaghan to enter Bogside without bodyguard, Irish Times, 28 August 1969, page 4
  33. ^ McCann, page 69
  34. ^ McCann, page 68
  35. ^ Revelry at the Derry barricades, Irish Times, 1 September 1969, page 7

Bibliography

  • Eamonn McCann, War and an Irish Town, 2nd edition, 1980, ISBN 0-86104-302-2
  • Lord Cameron, Disturbances in Northern Ireland, HMSO, 1969 (CAIN Web Service)
  • Bernadette Devlin, The Price of my Soul, 1st edition, 1969
  • Report of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland into a complaint made by the Devenny family on 20 April 2001 (The Pat Finucane Centre)


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