No More British Troops Will Face Justice for the 1972 Bloody Sunday Massacre
It was one of the worst days of the decades-long Northern Ireland Troubles. In January 1972, 13 people were killed outright (a 14th victim died months later of wounds inflicted at the massacre) and another 15 people were wounded in Derry after members of the British Army opened fire on civil rights demonstrators. It came to be known as Bloody Sunday.
Although it happened nearly 50 years ago, and peace returned to Northern Ireland in the late '90s, the families of those killed have never wavered in seeking justice and prosecuting the troops who carried out the massacre. But, on Tuesday, Northern Ireland’s public prosecution service announced that there will be no further charges against any of the soldiers.
For years, the families of those killed were forced to live with the legacy of British Army claims that their loved ones had been terrorists. A public inquiry in 2010 found that the killings were “unjustified” and that none of the 14 who were killed was carrying a gun, no warnings were given before the shots rang out, and no soldiers were under threat.