Ballymurphy massacre

Ballymurphy Massacre
Part of the Troubles
A mural in Belfast commemorating the victims of the Ballymurphy Massacre.
Location	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Coordinates
Date	9 – 11 August 1971
Attack type	Shooting
Deaths	11
Perpetrator	The Parachute Regiment, British Army

The Ballymurphy Massacre was a series of incidents involving the killing of eleven civilians by the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment of the British Army in Ballymurphy, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The killings happened between 9 and 11 August 1971, during Operation Demetrius. The shootings have also been called Belfast Bloody Sunday, a reference to another massacre of civilians by the same battalion a few months later.

The Northern Ireland Troubles had been ongoing for two years, and Belfast was particularly affected by political and sectarian violence. The British Army had been deployed in Northern Ireland in 1969, as events had gone beyond the control of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

On the morning of Monday 9 August 1971, the security forces launched Operation Demetrius. The plan was to arrest and intern anyone suspected of being a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The unit selected for this operation was the Parachute Regiment—the same regiment later responsible for the Bloody Sunday killings in Derry on 30 January 1972. Members of the Parachute Regiment stated that, as they entered the Ballymurphy area, they were shot at by republicans and returned fire.

In 2016 Declan Morgan, the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, recommended an inquest into the killings as one of a series of "legacy inquests" covering 56 cases related to the Troubles. However these inquests are not currently scheduled to go ahead since funding was not approved by the Northern Ireland Executive, reportedly due to the influence of Arlene Foster, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, a decision condemned by the human rights group Amnesty International.

Timeline

Commemoration plaque in a remembrance garden in Ballymurphy, Belfast

Six civilians were killed on 9 August, these were:

• Francis Quinn (19), shot by a sniper (who had taken position at the nearby army base) while going to the aid of a wounded man.
• Hugh Mullan (38), a Catholic priest, shot by a sniper while going to the aid of a wounded man.
• Joan Connolly (50), shot as she stood opposite the army base.
• Daniel Teggart (44), was shot fourteen times. Most of the bullets entered his back, allegedly as he lay injured on the ground.
• Noel Phillips (20), shot as he stood opposite the army base.
• Joseph Murphy (41), shot as he stood opposite the army base. Murphy was subsequently taken into army custody and after his release, as he was dying in hospital, he claimed that he had been beaten and shot again while in custody. When his body was exhumed in October 2015, a second bullet was discovered in his body, which activists say corroborate his claim.

One civilian was shot on 10 August, and another four were shot on 11 August, these were:

• Edward Doherty (28), shot while walking along Whiterock Road.
• John Laverty (20) and Joseph Corr (43) were shot at separate points at the Top of the Whiterock Road. Laverty was shot twice, once in the back and once in the back of the leg. Corr was shot multiple times and died of his injuries on 27 August.
• John McKerr (49), shot by unknown attackers while standing outside the Roman Catholic church, died of his injuries on 20 August.
• Paddy McCarthy (44) got into a confrontation with a group of soldiers. Family allege an empty gun was put in his mouth and the trigger pulled. McCarthy suffered a heart attack and died shortly thereafter.

In February 2015, the conviction of Terry Laverty, younger brother of John, was quashed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. He had been convicted of riotous behaviour and sentenced to six months on the eye-witness evidence of a paratrooper.

See also

• List of massacres in Ireland
• Operation Demetrius
• Bloody Sunday, 1972