‘Bloody Sunday was no accident’ – Bernadette McAliskey

BERNADETTE McAliskey (Devlin) was a prominent Civil Rights leader and MP for Mid Ulster 50 years ago and was on the march from Dungannon to Coalisland and the Bloody Sunday march in Derry the following day.

Speaking to the WeAreTyrone this week, as vigils are being organised throughout Ireland and further afield for the 14 innocent victims who were shot dead by British soldiers in Derry, she believes “the state at Government level made a decision to murder its second class citizens rather than listen to them”.

Mrs McAliskey will address the vigil in memory of Billy Doherty on Saturday. She said, “It is a very nice gesture that Billy is being remembered. I recall that day very clearly. Dungannon Square was sealed off and we made our way down Union Lane across to the Carland Road. We were being harried and pushed by troops. Once they saw where we were, they were coming down to beat us off the road.”

She remembers when Mr Doherty fell although it was unclear what had happened to him.

“When I got up, Rose Quinn was helping him. He seemed to have taken ill and I told people to ‘keep going’ and give him some privacy. It struck me later the intensity of what was happening. Initially some thought he had been hit by a rubber bullet. Sadly Mr Doherty passed away.”

Bernadette and other marchers eventually reached Coalisland, by road and field, despite the efforts of the British Army to stop them.

“They had water cannons ‘drowning’ marchers. You were taking your life in your hands going onto the road and there was a helicopter swooping so low it was blowing your hair about. A group of us were eventually corralled at Annagher at the brick yard in Coalisland. There were soldiers everywhere with guns trained on us and a loud hailer telling us to sit on the ground with our hands on our heads or we would be shot. I look back now at the naivety of us in ‘72 not to put credence to the thought that the British Army would open fire on unarmed people.

“The army was not out of control but had a distinct change of tune as we saw in Ballymurphy and their violence against Civil Rights marchers on Magilligan beach the previous weekend. They had a clear change of orders on how to handle protesters. Bloody Sunday was no accident. It wasn’t soldiers or a commander losing the run of themselves.

“It was clear the government ordered the military to put manners on the natives. History in Kenya or Aden or anywhere the British went had shown that. Of course that hadn’t changed.

“There were no big marches after that. People were recruited into ‘armies’ in the belief the British don’t listen to peaceful politics. Peaceful mass action frightened the British government. The state murdered its second class citizens rather than listen to them. If that week had been different, history would have been different and a lot of people would have lived.”