Walking the walls in Derry

After staying the night in Portrush, we pushed on the next day to Derry. Of course, staunch unionists refer to this city as 'Londonderry'.  Here again the pressure of the past in Northern Ireland was all too apparent. Policemen still heavily armed here, and in flak jackets, and police vehicles garbed like heavily armoured tanks still patrolling the streets.

We walked the medieval walls of the city  (from which the Union Jack flew) and it afforded a view over the Bogside, the depressed areas populated by Catholics and the birthplace of the Northern Ireland Civil rights movement in the late 1960s, and thus, a focal point for the "Troubles".  It was in the Bogside that the events of 'Bloody Sunday' took place in January 1972 (which U2 sing about in 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'), when, during a peaceful march through Derry to protest against the internment without trial, British soldiers opened fire on unarmed civilians - 14 people were shot dead (some  were shot in the back) and six of them were aged under 17. Our guide at the Museum of Free Derry was the brother of one of those 17 year olds killed, Michael Kelly. He was deeply involved in the long process of seeking an explanation, and ultimately an apology from the British prime minister, for what happened that day. After the events of 'Bloody Sunday', of course, the Catholic population of Derry, which had originally welcomed the British army as a neutral force protecting them from Protestant violence and persecution, now saw the army as the enemy and occupier. The ranks of the IRA swelled after this event. This is one of the best museums I have seen, presenting the rise of the civil rights movement in international context and also outlining the way in which Catholics were excluded from the public life of the north, whether it be in politics, the judiciary, the police, or the civil service. And how they were denied decent public housing and educational/employment opportunities. After the museum, we visited the Bloody Sunday memorial and the Hunger Strikes memorial, all nearby in the Bogside.

 The red hand of Ulster is everywhere!

The views over the Bogside - the Catholic area - and their murals

It was interesting to learn just how much the civil rights movements in the United States influenced the protests in Derry.

The Hunger Strike memorial

 and the Bloody Sunday memorial