Bloody Sunday: what happened that day

Bloody Sunday is probably the most infamous episode of Northern Ireland's 'Troubles' and happened on January 30, 1972. Thirteen people were shot dead by British soldiers when they opened fire on a banned demonstration in the Catholic Bogside area of Derry.
 
The massacre took place against a backdrop of increasing tensions between the Catholic communities in Northern Ireland and the British army. Troops had first arrived in the province in 1969 to try to combat the nationalist IRA and quell religious violence between Catholics and Protestants. By early 1972 rioting against the army was commonplace and many soldiers and civilians had lost their lives.
 
Things came to a head on January 30 when a Catholic march protesting against the British policy of internment without trial for suspected Irish nationalists ended in tragedy.
 
Estimates of the numbers involved in the march have varied from 3,000 to 30,000; the actual figure is now taken to be between 10,000 and 15,000. Trouble flared when the proposed route of the march was blocked in Bogside, and British troops manning the barricades used water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets to try to disperse the rioters.
 
Such scenes were not uncommon at the time, but as the afternoon drew on reports came through of an IRA sniper being seen in the area - and the situation quickly escalated. Amid concerns that troops could be shot at, the Parachute Regiment was sent into the Bogside with orders to arrest protestors. As the chaos escalated, the order was given to begin firing live ammunition.
 
The first to die was 17-year-old Jackie Duddy who was shot in the back as he fled the Paras, who were pursuing the crowd. He was alongside a priest, Father Edward Daly, when he was hit.

Although a ceasefire order was sent from HQ, in the confusion many soldiers continued firing live rounds - and over 100 were discharged during a 25-minute period. Twelve more people, including a further six teenagers, were killed and another 14 were injured: 12 were shot and two were knocked down by army personnel carriers.
 
The British Government initially claimed the paratroopers had come under gun and nail bomb attack from members of the IRA. However, no eyewitness accounts backed up those claims, no soldiers were injured and no bullets or nail bombs were recovered.

Instead, those present, including local residents and British and Irish journalists, said that the soldiers fired at people fleeing the scene and tending the wounded.
 
In the aftermath of the tragedy the British embassy in the Irish capital Dublin was burned down by an angry mob.
 
There have been two inquiries into Bloody Sunday. The first, the Widgery Tribunal, overseen by the Lord Chief Justice Baron Widgery, was convened in the immediate aftermath of the shootings and largely exonerated the British - although it did describe the actions of the soldiers involved as "bordering on the reckless".

The findings were denounced by many at the time and in 1998 the then Prime Minister Tony Blair established the Saville Inquiry to take another look at the tragedy. ·