(24 Jan 1998) English/Nat
About two-thousand people marched through London on Saturday to mark the 26th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday".
At the end of a protest march in Londonderry on 30 January 1972, 13 Roman Catholics were shot dead - a watershed event in the Northern Ireland conflict that became known as "Bloody Sunday".
Campaigners hope that the British government will now order an inquiry into the affair - with some hoping for a public apology from UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
About two-thousand protesters gathered for a march on Saturday to mark the 26th anniversary of a grim event in Northern Ireland's bloody sectarian conflict.
The marchers also took to the streets with high hopes that the British government might reopen the inquiry into what happened on the day now known as "Bloody Sunday"
In the Northern Ireland city of Londonderry on 30 January 1972 a protest march ended in bloodshed when 13 Catholics were shot dead.
The day marked a watershed event in the Northern Ireland conflict - one that radicalised hundreds of Catholic youths to move from street
protests into the ranks of the Irish Republican Army (I-R-A).
The 13 deaths and the exoneration of the British paratroopers involved has been one of the main issues in the whole tragic event.
Civilian witnesses are unanimous that the soldiers fired deliberately at an unarmed and panicked crowd, who were marching in their thousands against the British government's policy of interning I-R-A suspects without trial.
But the English judge who investigated the event concluded that while some soldiers' shooting "bordered on the reckless," the I-R-A fired first and some of those slain were probably handling weapons, even though the troops recovered none.
The spotlight placed so squarely on Bloody Sunday offends many
Protestant politicians.
They note that the I-R-A has killed more than five times as many people as the British army and police combined, often with impunity.
Others in Britain also showed their anger during the march on Saturday.
As protestors marched through London's streets, members of the National Front organisation held up British flags and shouted in opposition to the marchers.
The main focus of the march, however, was directed towards whether the British government will bow to pressure and issue and apology.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I don't think we can trade or negotiate apologies. What we are asking for here, on behalf of the families, is an apology from the British State. The cease-fire by both the Loyalist and Republican armed forces is obviously very, very welcome indeed, and that's a good thing and hopefully remorse and regret will follow. But I think we shouldn't really get in the business of negotiating between one group and the other. The issue here is what the British army did, the issue here is an apology and that is what we are asking for."
SUPER CAPTION: Jeremy Corbyn, Member of Parliament
Relatives of the victims just want to know what really happened.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Well I think in any conflict the truth can't hurt anybody and it's only when the truth comes out that all the pain can start to heal and I think that's why the truth has to be told, to help the healing."
SUPER CAPTION: Joe McKinney, Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign
Catholic activists have compiled a catalog of oral testimony from witnesses, backed up by audio and film records.
They allege this evidence shows that British Army snipers were also involved in the shootings - not just the troops on the ground.
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