Protestant church leaders to make symbolic visit to Bogside
Protestant church leaders will today make a symbolic visit into the nationalist Bogside to meet with the families of the Bloody Sunday victims.
In what will be seen as a courageous gesture, Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry and Raphoe Ken Good and the heads of the Presbyterian and Methodist churches will join relatives at a memorial to the dead.
The state killings of 14 innocent people on the streets of Derry on January 30, 1972, and the subsequent campaign for justice have been divisive in the North.
Bishop Good, Presbyterian Church Moderator Rev Norman Hamilton and Methodist Church President Rev Paul Kingston will present families with a replica of Derry's 'Hands Across the Divide' sculpture.
The visit follows the momentous release of the Saville report, in which Britain held its hands up to the massacre of civilians more than 38 years after the notorious events.
It said none of the dead posed a threat and the actions of the soldiers were totally without justification.
British Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a shocking analysis of the bloodshed inflicted by the troops and told the House of Commons he was "deeply sorry" on behalf of the Government and the country.
Relatives of the Bloody Sunday dead poured on to the steps of Derry's Guildhall, where they were greeted by cheers from the thousands who gathered for the report's release yesterday.
In 1998 the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair commissioned Saville to carry out a fresh inquiry.
The move followed a lengthy campaign by bereaved relatives, angry that official records still contained the Widgery Report which in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday had controversially cleared the soldiers of blame and accused the victims of being armed.
Saville's findings, delivered after 12 years of deliberations and at a cost of nearly £200m (€240.17m), effectively turned Widgery on its head by exonerating the dead and injured, and delivering a withering account of events that showed soldiers lied about their actions and falsely claimed to have come under attack.
Mr Cameron said: "These are shocking conclusions to read and shocking words to have to say. But you do not defend the British Army by defending the indefensible.
"There is no point trying to soften or equivocate what is in the report. It is clear from the tribunal's authoritative conclusions that the events of Bloody Sunday were in no way justified."
He told MPs: "What happened on Bloody Sunday was both unjustified and unjustifiable. It was wrong."
Chief of the General Staff General David Richards said: "The Prime Minister has apologised on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom, the Army and those involved on the day, and I fully support that statement."
The report left it to others to apply legal judgments as to whether victims had been murdered or unlawfully killed.
Northern Ireland Chief Constable Matt Baggott and director of the region's Public Prosecution Service Alasdair Fraser will now consider the implications of the report, with some relatives already on record as demanding troops be charged for their actions.
The Saville Report detailed the grim circumstances of each of the deaths, including how Alexander Nash was shot and injured as he tended to his dead or dying son, 19-year-old William.
It recounts how some victims were shot in the back, others were killed as they lay wounded, and some soldiers fired without believing they were at risk, or simply not caring if their targets posed a threat.
The report added: "Despite the contrary evidence given by soldiers, we have concluded that none of them fired in response to attacks or threatened attacks by nail or petrol bombers. No one threw or threatened to throw a nail or petrol bomb at the soldiers on Bloody Sunday."
John Kelly, whose 17-year-old brother Michael was found by the report to have been shot by soldiers without justification, made an emotional address to the crowd at the Guildhall.
Under brilliant sunshine, he recalled the civil rights movement of the 1960s and prompted cheers from the crowd as he declared: "We have overcome."
Mayor of Derry Colum Eastwood said the Saville findings had "put right" the injustice felt by local people over the 38 years since the events of Bloody Sunday.
Speaking to GMTV, he said: "The people of Derry are absolutely delighted the truth has finally been told. It's been a long 38 years for many people, a very hurtful 38 years - a massacre of innocent people, then the massacre of innocence and the massacre of truth in the Widgery Tribunal.
"(Yesterday) that was put right, and I think the world now knows the truth about Bloody Sunday."
He added: "A dark cloud has been lifted off our city."
