Derry inquiry told of ‘Bloody Sunday’

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32849, 24 February 1972, Page 13

Derry inquiry told of ‘Bloody Sunday’

GV.Z P-A.-Reuter— Copyright>

COLERAINE, February 23.

The tribunal investigating the 13 killings on Londonderry’s “Bloody Sunday” was told yesterday that British paratroopers clubbed people to the ground with rifle butts, and then kicked them.

This evidence was given by a press photographer, Mr Geoffrey Morris, of the “Daily Mail,” on the second day of the official inquiry being held by the Lord Chief Justice of England (Lord Widgery).

But a British Broad-; casting Corporation tele-’ vision cameraman, Mr Peter Beggin, said that the paratroopers appeared to come under fire before they charged a group of demonstrators. In cross-examination, Mr Beggin said that he could give no evidence as to who fired the shots, but he thought they came from the direction of some high-rise flats in the Roman Catholic Bogside district of the city. Mr Beggin said that he had crossed the Army barricades with troops of the Ist Battalion, Parachute Regiment, and heard two rifle shots as the paratroopers began making arrests. He also heard three or four more shots as the troops crossed the waste ground in

.front of the eight-storey j Rossville Flats. "The shots did not appear ' to be fired by the soldiers,” I he added. Another eye-witness, Mr David Phillips, an Independent Television News proI ducer, told the tribunal that he had heard the commander of the British land forces, General Robert Ford, say . during the shooting that . there were 70 gunmen in the area. 1 The general had also rei marked: "That’s awfully i heavy fire.” : Mr Phillips added: “I had : heard sub-machine-gun fire, . immediately followed by rifle ■ shots. Near the Rossville • Flats I saw a priest on the : street waving a white handkerchief. "I also heard two Army i orders, one after the other, one to stop firing and the other to fire only at positive ; targets.” During his evidence, Mr

Morris, the “Daily Mail” photographer, said that people ran off, with the paratroopers in pursuit. "I saw pairs of paratroopers clubbing people over the head with their rifles, and then kicking them when they fell to the ground,” he went on. “Two of the soldiers seized me and held me against a wall with a rifle butt at the back of my head. When I reached for my press card, I was kneed in the groin.

"Later I saw a paratrooper hit a man in the face with his rifle butt. Another paratrooper beside him went into a crouching position, and fired two shots. I also saw a young lad being dragged away by two soldiers, one of whom hit him over the head from behind.”

An Independent Television News sound recordist, Mr Robert Hammond, told the tribunal that during the shooting, a soldier said to him: “That will teach them to mess with the paras.” This, the witness imagined, referred to the shooting by the Army. Earlier, Mr Hammond said, he had seen bodies being loaded into a civilian car, and a pair of legs protruding from beneath an armoured troop carrier. A 8.8. C. reporter, Mr David Capper, testified that the first shots he heard seemed to come from a crowd in thj Bogside, Later, he saw about 2000 people running, with two armoured vehicles on their heels. As soon as the vehicles stopped, soldiers began firing,, but it was the witness’s impression that rubber bullets and CS-gas were being used. It was only later he realised that live bullets were being used that afternoon. Asked by Lord Widgery why he thought the Army was not using live bullets, Mr Capper replied: “I could not see any reason for it It was beyond my comprehension that they should be doing it.” An “Irish Times” photographer, Mr Kiernan Donnelly, gave evidence of seeing a man “who had been doing nothing at all” shot down near a barricade. Some people had been throwing stones. Someone called out: “It’s okay, the Army are firing blanks,” but then there were a couple of shots, and another man fell.

Later, Mr Donnelly said, he heard “quite a long burst” of automatic fire.