Bloody Sunday Memorial March 1973

This photograph depicts a march in memory of the 13 men who died during the Bloody Sunday incident which occurred on the 30th of January 1972 in the Bogside area of Londonderry, Co. Derry. The incident occurred during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march; the soldiers involved were members of the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (1 Para).

The Provisional Irish Republican Army‘s (IRA) campaign had begun in the two years prior to Bloody Sunday, but public perceptions of the day boosted the status of, and recruitment into, the organisation enormously. Bloody Sunday remains among the most significant events in the Troubles of Northern Ireland because of the high number of casualties and fatalities killed by British regulars in full view of the public and the press.

In 2010, a 12-year investigation into the events of that day was completed and found that all victims of shots were unarmed and that the killings were both “unjustified and unjustifiable.” On the publication of the Saville report the British prime minister, David Cameron, made a formal apology on behalf of the United Kingdom.