The action is held each year to press demands against the British government. On Jan. 30, 1972, British army soldiers opened fire on Irish nationalist fighters who were holding a peaceful march in Derry, Northern Ireland, to demand civil rights. Thirteen people were gunned down, and another died later of his wounds. This year the march focused on the demand for justice for the victims of the massacre and for the government to tell the truth about why they unleashed the lethal assault.

The chant about the guns and nail bombs, for example, is in reference to the fact that in the wake of the assault, leading officers in the army tried to slander the demonstrators in Derry, calling them gunmen and nail bombers.

A good number of working people and youth turned out for the march. Brian, a worker at Glaxo Wellcome in East London, said that he had joined picket lines of Skychefs workers locked out at Heathrow airport. "It's important to go out on these demonstrations, to show solidarity," he stated.

Sandie Casey and Tracie Duggan, both young women, said they would have been born and brought up in Ireland if there hadn't been the conflict caused by British occupation and division of Ireland. "That's why this Bloody Sunday issue isn't just about history. It's about today," Duggan said.

"We have to ensure that one day in our lifetime things will be different," said Brigid O'Neil, a student from California studying in London. She had seen a flier and decided to join the action. "This is the first time I've been on a demonstration about any issue," she said. "It's great. I wanted to be part of this because we're making history. It's important that Americans support this. We don't get told the truth and I'm learning by seeing history live." O'Neil, whose parents are of Irish descent, added, "The more I find out about Ireland the more I've gotten interested in other issues of oppression."

Demonstrators marched past the Downing Street residence of Prime Minister Anthony Blair and ended with a rally at the University of London Students Union. Speakers at the rally reflected aspects of the fight for justice and the broader fight for Irish self-determination.

Paul Doherty is the son of Patrick Doherty, who was shot in the back during the massacre while stewarding the demonstration. He told the crowd that ordinary people who stood up for civil rights were not decorated, but instead vilified as gunmen by the British government. He vowed the fight for justice will continue until the truth about the massacre and its subsequent cover-up by the British government is told.

Sinn Fein councilor for Newry in South Armagh, Conor Murphy, said the 1972 Derry march was an example of Irish nationalists—those in favor of the unification of the country free from British rule—in Northern Ireland starting to demand their rights, rather than asking favors from London. The British government's response was to try to teach the "natives" a lesson, he said, with state-sanctioned assault and murder.

The Sinn Fein leaders said London should be establishing a timetable for demilitarization in Northern Ireland, but instead British military activity in his constituency has increased.

Murphy explained that Nationalists want to destroy the system of sectarianism in Northern Ireland. They will continue to raise demands for their rights, and will stand by the relatives in their fight for the truth to be told about the Bloody Sunday massacre.

Harry Robinson and Bernadette Campbell are members of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union in Manchester.  
 
 
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