For the reader to follow the sequence of events, from the beginning of the march through the late afternoon, when the dead and wounded were carried away, he must have information about the street plan of Londonderry where the events took place, including the location of specific buildings and places to which reference must be made. A map showing all the relevant streets and places is included at the end of this report. We have borrowed this map from The Sunday Times, which printed it on April 23, 1972 in connection with its "Insight on Bloody Sunday" publication. The reader is cautioned that references on the map to ira positions and to certain locations for dead or wounded civilians are based on the independent investigations of "Insight" reporters for the Times and are not intended to reflect the evidence before the Widgery Tribunal. For the purposes of this report they should be disregarded. The map is helpful primarily to show the street plan of the Bogside and the location of certain buildings and places referred to repeatedly in this report.

William Street serves roughly as a northern perimeter of the Bogside area. From the Creggan Estate area, where the marchers assembled, which is adjacent to the Bogside in a westerly direction, the plan of march was to follow William Street straight to Guild Hall at City Center which is outside the Bogside area and off the map.

If the marchers had followed the plan they would have passed Rossville Street which is the main street of the Bogside and comes off William Street on the right hand side of the line of the march, and they would have passed Chamberlain Street which runs parallel to Rossville Street. Just past Chamberlain Street was barrier 14 manned by soldiers and ruc Officers to prevent the marchers from leaving the Bogside and going to Guild Hall at the City Center. At the junction of William Street and Rossville Street, running north from the line of the march, is Little James Street. Half way up Little James Street was barrier 12 also manned by soldiers and ruc officers to keep the marchers within the Bogside area. Barrier 13 was close to barrier 12 on Sackville Street, which runs east from Little James Street north of William Street. We will leave till later a description of Rossville Street and the buildings and places on either side of Rossville Street which played a significant part in the events of "Bloody Sunday." One can hardly improffe on the following description by Lord Widgery in his report of the march itself based on the evidence he heard.

"The marchers assembled on the Creggan Estate on a fine sunny afternoon and in carnival mood. At first amounting to some hundreds only they toured the estate collecting additional numbers as they went and eventually the total may have been something between 3,000 and 5,000 people. At their head was a lorry carrying a Civil Rights Association banner and traveling upon the lorry were some of the leaders of the march. (reference to a photograph in evidence). The marchers did not moffe in any kind of military formation but walked as a crowd through the streets, occupying the entire width of the road, both carriageway and pavements. The marchers, who included many women and some children, were orderly and in the main good humored. (reference to a photograph in evidence). When in due course they appeared at the west end of William Street it was obvious that their direct route to the Guildhall Square lay along William Street itself and that the march would come face to face with the Army at barrier 14 in that street. At this stage it became noticeable that a large number of youths of what was described throughout the Inquiry as the hooligan type, had placed themselves at the head of the march; indeed some of them were in front of the lorry itself. (reference to a photograph in evidence). Some relatively minor exchanges took place between these youths and the soldiers manning the barriers which the march passed on its way to William Street, but nothing of real consequence occurred until the marchers reached the barriers in Little James Street and William Street. When the leaders of the march reached the junction of William Street and Rossville Street the lorry turned to its right to go along Rossville Street and the stewards made strenuous efforts to persuade the marchers to follow the lorry. It is quite evident now that the leaders of the march had decided before setting off from the Creggan Estate that they would take this course and thus avoid a headon confrontation with the Army at the William Street barrier."

The worst trouble of the afternoon began when about 200 young marchers (accompanied by some older ones) refused to follow the instructions of the leaders of the march to turn right on Rossville Street for the purpose of avoiding a confrontation with barrier 14 straight ahead on William Street. This large group of people, referred to as "hooligans" by the soldiers, marched on barrier 14 and began to throw bricks, angle irons, bottles and others debris at the soldiers. No soldier was injured by this attack primarily because of the protective gear worn by the soldiers and the coffer they were able to take behind parked army trucks.

The soldiers responded to this attack by firing rubber bullets at the rioters. The rioters fell back but returned hiding behind large, improffised metal shields protecting them from the rubber bullets. At this point the army brought up a water canon which shot, under great pressure, a mixture of water and purple dye at the rioters. The water canon was successful in sweeping many of the rioters down William Street and preventing any further effective action by the rioters against barrier 14.

This entire scene was filmed by television cameramen from the BBC and the Independent Television News and clearly shows that the rioters' attack on barrier 14 was vicious but involved no explosive weapons, and reveals the effectiveness of the military response. At this point in the afternoon the Army had successfully contained the march within the Bogside by the use of the barriers and antiriot equipment, without any resulting injuries either to the rioters or to the soldiers. The time was now 3:55 in the afternoon, or as recorded by the Army, 15:55 hours.

It is at this time that 1 Para decided to seek authority to begin its assigned arrest role.

"Justice Denied" Main