The stains of Bloody Sunday

In January 1972 on the streets of Londonderry British paratroopers shot 14 unarmed civilians dead. Now a reckoning is finally upon them.

By Martin Fletcher

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Martin McCullough/REX/Shutterstock (318906d) CHILDREN WALKING PAST A MURAL DEPICTING THOSE WHO WERE KILLED ON THE 30TH JANUARY 1972 . THIRTEEN CIVILIANS WERE KILLED BY BRITISH PARATROOPERS ON WHAT HAS BECOME KNOWN AS BLOODY SUNDAY - DERRY SIR EDWARD SUMMERS ( NEW ZEALAND JUDGE ), LORD SAVILLE ( BRITISH JUDGE ) AND WILLIAM HOYT ( CANADIAN JUDGE ). TAKING THEIR SEATS FOR THE START OF THE SAVILLE PUBLIC ENQUIRY INTO BLOODY SUNDAY - DERRY

Forty seven years after British soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians on the streets of Londonderry, killing 14 of them, the rank and festering wound of Bloody Sunday is set to erupt once more.

Late this month Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service will announce whether 17 former paratroopers involved in those shootings should be charged with offences including murder, attempted murder and perjury. If it decides against prosecution the province’s nationalist community will be enraged. Nine years after the Saville Inquiry blamed the deaths on the soldiers’ reckless indiscipline, the victims’ relatives will protest that they have been denied the justice they have sought for nearly half a century. They will complain of yet another establishment whitewash in this long and sorry saga.