2010 Common Ground Awards: British Government
photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images
The Common Ground Awards are coming up (November 11). If you want to come, get your tickets now!
On January 30, 1972, 14 unarmed demonstrators were killed by British troops who fired into the crowd during a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland. This event later became known as Bloody Sunday. In the initial inquiry—known as the Widgery Report—the British troops were cleared of any wrongdoing after they argued that they fired on civilians only after violent provocation from the crowd. Most eyewitnesses, however, maintained that the crowd was unarmed and that many of those shot were fleeing or tending the wounded. The incident is widely regarded as a major factor in escalating levels of violence throughout Northern Ireland in what came to be known as the “Troubles” between the Unionist and Nationalist communities.
On June 15, 2010 Prime Minister David Cameron apologized, on behalf of the British Government, for the killing and injuring of unarmed demonstrators that took place on Bloody Sunday. The apology was prompted by the findings of the Saville report, which was commissioned by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998. The extensive findings of the report concluded that
“The firing by soldiers of [1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment] on Bloody Sunday caused the deaths of 13 people and injury to a similar number, none of whom was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury. What happened on Bloody Sunday strengthened the Provisional IRA, increased nationalist resentment and hostility towards the Army and exacerbated the violent conflict of the years that followed. Bloody Sunday was a tragedy for the bereaved and the wounded, and a catastrophe for the people of Northern Ireland.”
The significance of Prime Minister Cameron’s apology to the Bloody Sunday victims’ families and Northern Ireland as a whole cannot be understated. While the Northern Ireland Troubles has seen real progress in recent years—most notably with the Good Friday Agreements in 1998 and the current power-sharing agreement—this official acknowledgment from the British government is a crucial step forward. Search for Common Ground is proud to honor their actions with a 2010 Common Ground Award.
“You do not defend the British Army by defending the indefensible. We do not honor all those who have served with distinction in keeping the peace and upholding the rule of law in Northern Ireland by hiding from the truth…The government is ultimately responsible for the conduct of the armed forces, and for that, on behalf of the government, indeed on behalf of our country, I am deeply sorry.”
-Prime Minister David Cameron, speech following the release of the Saville Report, 06/15/10
