Open warfare burst out between the Protestant Shankill and the Roman Catholic Falls Road in Belfast early today. In Divit Street at the corner of the Falls Road, machine gun fire was heard and crowds threw themselves to the pavement when further bursts of fire came from police and from people in flats above the road. In Armagh, a man was shot dead during a riot following a meeting of civil rights supporters, and in Belfast two other men were killed in shooting incidents.
In Whitehall it is hoped that the need for the help of British troops may be confined to Londonderry. They would be withdrawn as soon as order is restored. An Inspector of Constabulary, Mr J McKay, is being sent from the Home Office to advise General Sir Ian Freeland, the General Officer Commanding (GOC ) in Northern Ireland, who is responsible directly to Westminster.
Reports that the soldiers have no bullets in their weapons does not mean that ammunition is not available if required. As an Ulster headquarters spokesman pointed out last night: “By standard operational procedure, ammunition is always present when weapons are used.” This probably means that so many rounds per man have been taken into Londonderry in ammunition boxes in the back of a truck but will not be issued to the men unless the situation deteriorates. The troops would only fire in the last resort.
The 300 men of the Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment who moved into Londonderry last night will be firmly under the control of Whitehall. Their deployment will be on orders from the Ministry of Defence, though it may well be as a result of requests from the Northern Ireland government. The troops moved into the city centre within moments of the announcement that their help had been requested by the Inspector-General of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. In full combat kit and armed with rifles and submachine guns, they swept down from the Royal Navy barracks in Londonderry, where they had been held in readiness during the 48 hours of rioting in the city.
U Thant, the Secretary-General, has told the Irish delegation to the United Nations that there is nothing he can do to help solve the conflict, informed sources said yesterday.
How long a stay for the troops?
By our political staff
15 August 1969
How long will British troops stay in Ulster? This is the biggest question which the Westminster and Ulster Governments must resolve before the weekend is over.
Last night it was stressed in government quarters that 300 men of the Prince of Wales Own Regiment were in a limited place for a limited time doing a limited job.
But the issue which Whitehall may soon have to face is what new links with Stormont will be necessary if British troops have to be used for longer than is necessary to deal with the immediate conflict between the Protestants and Catholics in Derry. No one is seriously thinking about the most fundamental step – the suspension of the government at Stormont, followed by direct rule from Westminster. This is a morass into which few British politicians would wish to venture.
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Editorial: a gamble for peace in Derry
15 August 1969
The decision to send troops into Londonderry to restore order would have profound consequences. We have argued before that the use of troops will be attended with dangers that no one with any knowledge of Irish history can have forgotten. The authorities in Belfast have now decided, and have convinced ministers in London that this last resort has been reached. There are two arguments in their favour. The Royal Ulster Constabulary is stretched far beyond its powers and the militant Catholics are determined to keep it so. It has also totally lost the confidence of that section of the community, as the madly violent acts in Bogside have shown.
If British soldiers, with no allegiance to the unionist government, can present a more disinterested face of law and order in Derry, that will be a gain. If they can give both police and rioters time for reflection and for tempers to cool, they will contribute to peace. But their officers and those who have given them their orders should have no illusions about the gunpowder keg on which they are sitting. Some rioters are protesting about civil rights and against the injustices and underprivilege of a permanent minority. Others believe that while they remain a minority in Northern Ireland they can never hope for equality. They have been encouraged by the unwise actions of Mr Lynch, the prime minister of the Republic, to think that an end to partition may come out of chaos.
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