Bloody Sunday families joined by Martin McGuinness to mark anniversary in Derry City

THE 45th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday killings of civil rights marchers by the British Army’s Parachute Regiment in Derry was marked on Sunday morning, 29 January, as a large crowd representing the families of the dead, their relatives and friends. They were joined by well-wishers from far and wide at the memorial in Rossville Street close to Free Derry Corner.

Amongst the crowd was Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness who, despite his serious illness, attended the ceremony along with MEP Martina Anderson.

The Sinn Féin man was warmly greeted by many of those there and he told An Phoblacht that he has been attending the ceremony for many, many years now in support of the Bloody Sunday families and he wasn’t going to allow his illness from attending on Sunday.

● Bloody Sunday, 1972

Gerry Duddy, whose brother Jackie was shot dead, read a statement from the families in which they poured scorn on the efforts by the British Government and military to exempt their forces from prosecution over killings in the North.

In a statement over the weekend, British Secretary of State James Brokenshire added to the anger of the Bloody Sunday families and others when, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, argued that investigations in the North are “disproportionately” focused on the British Army and RUC.

Parroting a unionist mantra, Brokenshire said: “We are in danger of seeing the past rewritten.”

Anne Cadwallader, author of the acclaimed investigation of collusion by British state forces with unionist death squads, Lethal Allies, tweeted in response:

“Hopefully, the history of the conflict isn’t being ‘rewritten’. It’s being corrected. Long overdue.”

● Bloody Sunday, 1972