Thirteen civilians were left dead and at least 16 wounded when British paratroopers opened fire with automatic weapons on a demonstration of between 15,000 and 20,000 called by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA).

Defying a government ban on all demonstrations, the protesters were demanding an end to the government's policy of internment under which some 755 Catholics have been imprisoned without charge or trial.

The attack in Derry, now referred to as "Bloody Sunday," has been compared to the 1960 Sharpeville massacre in which 72 Blacks were shot dead by South African police and soldiers during an unarmed and peaceful demonstration against that country's pass laws.

A general strike, called by the outlawed Irish Republican Army, has already halted the commercial life of Derry, according to the Feb. 1 Washington Post.

Meanwhile during an emergency debate in the House of Commons in London, the Labor Party, rather than calling for the immediate withdrawal of British troops, demanded that British imperialism take over all responsibility for maintaining "law and order" from Northern Ireland's Protestant government.

February 8, 1947
LONDON - The magnificent demonstration of solidarity and militancy of the transport workers has compelled the government and the employers to grant a 44 hour week and a regulated day without any reduction in pay. The capitalist press itself recognizes this as a "complete victory" for the transport workers.

The direct action of the transport workers produced the quickest negotiations in union history. The solidarity of the organized workers has taught the Labor Government that the working class will not lightly tolerate the use of troops as strikebreakers.

For the first time since the General Strike of 1926, the struggles of one section of the workers won the sympathy and solidarity of wide sections of the masses. Dockers, porters, and all engaged in the transport industry stopped work as soon as the troops marched in. Other sections, railway workers, passenger transport workers, gas workers, petroleum workers, shop assistants and caterers, were ready for strike action if the use of troops was extended.  
 
 
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