Anger over Bloody Sunday comments
UNIONISTS reacted angrily yesterday to Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness's remarks that he would have murdered every single British soldier in Londonderry in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday if he had had the chance.
Paratroopers shot dead 13 people attending a civil rights march in the Bogside area of Derry in 1972 while a 14th person died later from his injuries.
Sinn Fein MP and MLA Mr McGuinness, who has admitted being a former IRA member, said feelings ran so high following the shootings that he would have had no difficulty in killing every soldier in the city.
Having been born and raised in Londonderry, he said Bloody Sunday “hardened our attitudes considerably”.
Speaking during an interview on Eamonn Dunphy’s RTE Radio One show, Mr McGuinness said: “There is no doubt whatsoever that in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday there was a renewed determination to oppose the British Army and the RUC.
“If I had had the ability to kill every single British soldier that was on the streets of Derry I would have killed every single one of them without any difficulty whatsoever.”
East Londonderry MLA Gregory Campbell said Mr McGuinness “should apologise for his part in the Provisional IRA campaign rather than trying to justify or explain it”.
The DUP man said most people “would be more interested in him admitting to what he had done rather than him talking about what he would like to have done”.
Mr Campbell said: “He has already been in the witness box in the Saville Inquiry where he admitted to being the second-in-command of the Provisional IRA at the time of Bloody Sunday.
“There were two policemen murdered in Londonderry three days before Bloody Sunday – I think most people would like to hear what part Martin McGuinness played, if any, in those or other murders.”
Mr Campbell described the RTE interview as “a classic piece of revisionism where he is trying to intimate that the IRA campaign came about as a result of Bloody Sunday rather than predating it by some years”.
Unionist MEP Jim Allister said: “The real question, of course, for Martin McGuinness is not what he wanted to do, but what he did do? How many soldiers, policemen, civilians, informers and others did he actually kill or order to be killed. That’s what we need to hear from McGuinness.”
DUP’s South Antrim MP William McCrea said Mr McGuinness’s remarks were “indicative of someone attempting to quell disquiet amongst grassroots republicans”.
Mr McCrea said the Sinn Fein leadership “was clearly under pressure in light of recent revelations that the republican movement was riddled at a senior level by MI5 agents”.
He said Mr McGuinness’s comments added weight to what his party had been saying, that “confidence does not exist for the devolution of policing and justice”. See Morning View, page 14
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Weather for Belfast
Sunday 27 May 2012
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