April 1970: Ballymurphy, Bombs & Paisley
“They’re mainly what you would call Rangers supporters.”
In April 1970, the Olympic Gold and 8-time Grand Slam tennis champion Andre Agassi was born in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, it was a game of serve and volley between both sides of the conflict, with riots, bombs and tensions continuing to rise.
April began with the continuation of rioting that started at the end of March in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast between Catholic residents and the British Army, due to a planned Junior Orangeman march.
On Wednesday, the 1st of April the area was littered with debris from the night before, with tensions rising. That evening several youths stoned the British Army on the Springfield Road. It’s reported that what felt like, over a thousand British soldiers entered the Ballymurphy area, including the Light Infantry and the Queen’s Regiments, reportedly armed with gas masks, batons, shields, and rifles. CS gas was fired into the area resulting in people suffering badly, fainting and retching trying to protect their children. The gas didn’t stop the rioting, with people fighting back with stones and petrol bombs. A casualty centre was set up in St. Thomas’ school to treat anyone with injuries, with most being treated for the effects of the CS gas. Francis McGuigan, who was almost 2 years old, died a couple of days later from the effects of the gas.
On Thursday, the 2nd of April, as more Nationalist reinforcements gathered in Ballymurphy for a third night of rioting, the IRA arrived to try and end the rioting, concerned that they would be drawn into a confrontation with the British Army unprepared. However, Ballymurphy youths retreated through the estate and assembled at the top of Springhill Avenue to face the Loyalists in Springmartin, with another night of rioting ensuing. As the gas was fired into Springhill, families and pensioners were moved to St. Thomas’ school.
The rioting was to end in the early hours of Friday morning after the IRA persuaded the rioters to stop. As part of a new 'get tough' policy, Ian Freeland, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the British Army, warned that those throwing petrol bombs could be shot dead if, after a warning, they did not stop using them. If arrested those using petrol bombs could face a sentence of 10 years in prison.
Stormont MP for the Falls area of Belfast, Paddy Devlin, gave his view on the rioting in the Ballymurphy Estate in an interview with RTÉ’s Rodney Rice. During the interview, he speaks about the part vandals had played in escalating the rioting, how innocent Protestant people had their removal vans attacked, and also how the Scots Regiment of the military had been provoking the Catholic residents with references to Rangers (the Glasgow football club). To be honest, I found this last point very odd. It’s like childish school playground stuff, like someone ‘slegging your ma’…
“They’re mainly what you would call Rangers supporters.”
Meanwhile, as rioting continued in Derry, John Hume also spoke to Rodney Rice and referred to the fact that vandals were escalating tensions in these areas too. His main point was that only through political actions can you expect to make any progress, not through rioting. When talking about the rioters taking on the British Army, Mr Hume said;
“Such people are only playing into the hands of our political opponents because there is absolutely nothing to be gained politically by anyone entering into confrontation with the British Army.”
You can watch the full interviews with Mr Devlin and Mr Hume here.
The rioting coincided with the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) becoming operational, replacing the 'B-Specials' (the Ulster Special Constabulary). The UDR was a locally recruited regiment of the British Army, with Roy Hattersley, Minister of Defence, visiting Northern Ireland to mark the occasion. Initially, Catholics formed 18% of the membership of the UDR, however, it was to become almost exclusively Protestant. Given that many of the ‘B-Specials’ joined the new force, it was no coincidence that it attracted almost as much controversy as the 'B-Specials'.
The beginning of April had also seen a bombing spree by the IRA, with multiple bombs going off in Belfast City Centre. One bomb exploded outside a furniture shop owned by the Lord Mayor of Belfast Joseph Foster Cairns on the Shankill Road. However, the largest bomb exploded on lower Donegall Street outside an estate agent, blowing out the windows of dozens of surrounding buildings. Five people were slightly injured in the blast. Thankfully, a fourth bomb was found & defused. You can view some British Pathé archived footage of the aftermath here.
On the 16th of April, in a by-election to the Stormont parliament, Ian Paisley, standing on behalf of Protestant Unionist, won the seat formerly held by Terence O'Neill. O'Neill, the former Northern Ireland Prime Minister, had vacated his seat following his elevation to the peerage. It was Paisley’s second attempt to win the seat - at the last General Election, he was 1,400 votes behind O'Neill.
A second person, William Beattie, was also elected for Protestant Unionist. These elections provided further evidence of the break-up of the unionist block and the unease among a large section of Protestants about the reform measures introduced under Chichester-Clark, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister.
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) was formed on the 21st of April 1970. The founders of the party were attempting to appeal to Catholics and Protestants to unite in support of moderate policies. You can read their full declaration of intent here.
Oliver Napier became the leader of the party in 1972.
On the 28th of April, it was believed that the UVF was responsible for exploding a bomb at the home of liberal Ulster Unionist MP Richard Ferguson.
On the last day of the month, the 30th of April, the 'B-Specials' (the Ulster Special Constabulary) were officially disbanded. It has been argued that their failure to deal with the 1969 disturbances was due to a failure on behalf of the Northern Ireland government to modernise their equipment, weaponry, training and approach to the job. The USC had been replaced by the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) on 1 April 1970. In the final handover to the Ulster Defence Regiment, the ‘B-Specials’ had to surrender their weapons and uniforms. Despite the government's concerns about the handover of weapons and equipment, every single uniform and every single weapon was handed in.
Recommended reading based on research for this instalment of our journey through The Troubles.
Yearbook of the European Convention on Human Rights by Council of Europe Staff.