page:  = Free Derry = 
   
   Free Derry ( Irish : <unk> <unk> ) was a self @-@ declared autonomous nationalist area of Derry , Northern Ireland , that existed between 1969 and 1972 . Its name was taken from a sign painted on a gable wall in the <unk> in January 1969 which read , " You are now entering Free Derry " . The area , which included the <unk> and <unk> neighbourhoods , was secured by community activists for the first time on 5 January 1969 following an incursion into the <unk> by members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary ( RUC ) . Residents built barricades and carried clubs and similar arms to prevent the RUC from entering . After six days the residents took down the barricades and RUC patrols resumed , but tensions remained high over the following months . 
   Violence reached a peak on 12 August 1969 , culminating in the Battle of the <unk> — a three @-@ day pitched battle between residents and the RUC . On 14 August units of the British Army were deployed at the edge of the <unk> and the RUC were withdrawn . The Derry Citizens Defence Association ( <unk> ) declared their intention to hold the area against both the RUC and the British Army until their demands were met . The British Army made no attempt to enter the area . The situation continued until October 1969 when , following publication of the Hunt Report , military police were allowed in . 
   The Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) began to re @-@ arm and recruit after August 1969 . In December 1969 it split into the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA . Both were supported by the people of the Free Derry area . Meanwhile , relations between the British Army and the nationalist community , which were initially good , deteriorated . In July 1971 there was a surge of recruitment into the IRA after two young men were shot and killed by British troops . The government introduced internment on 9 August 1971 , and in response , barricades went up once more in the <unk> and <unk> . This time , Free Derry was a no @-@ go area , defended by armed members of both the Official and Provisional IRA . From within the area they launched attacks on the British Army , and the <unk> began a bombing campaign in the city centre . As before , unarmed ' auxiliaries ' manned the barricades , and crime was dealt with by a voluntary body known as the Free Derry Police . 
   Support for the IRA increased further after Bloody Sunday in January 1972 , when thirteen unarmed men and boys were shot dead by the British Army 's Parachute Regiment at a march in the <unk> ( a 14th man was wounded and died 4 ½ months later ) . The support began to wane after the killing by the Official IRA of a local youth who was home on leave from the British Army . After a Provisional IRA ceasefire , during which it entered talks with the British government , broke down , the British took the decision to move against the " no @-@ go " areas . Free Derry came to an end on 31 July 1972 , when thousands of British troops moved in with armoured cars and bulldozers to occupy the area . 
   
   = = Background = = 
   
   Derry City lies near the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland . It has a majority nationalist population , and nationalists won a majority of seats in the 1920 local elections . Despite this , the Ulster Unionist Party controlled the local council , Londonderry Corporation , from 1923 onwards . The Unionists maintained their majority , firstly , by manipulating the constituency boundaries ( gerrymandering ) so that the South Ward , with a nationalist majority , returned eight councillors while the much smaller North Ward and Waterside Ward , with unionist majorities , returned twelve councillors between them ; secondly , by allowing only ratepayers to vote in local elections , rather than one man , one vote , so that a higher number of nationalists , who did not own homes , were disenfranchised ; and thirdly , by denying houses to nationalists outside the South Ward constituency . The result was that there were about 2 @,@ 000 nationalist families , and practically no unionists , on the housing waiting list , and that housing in the nationalist area was crowded and of a very poor condition . The South Ward comprised the <unk> , <unk> , <unk> , Bishop Street and Foyle Road , and it was this area that would become Free Derry . 
   The Derry Housing Action Committee ( <unk> ) was formed in March 1968 by members of the Derry Branch of the Northern Ireland Labour Party and the James Connolly Republican Club , including Eamonn McCann and Eamon <unk> . It disrupted a meeting of Londonderry Corporation in March 1968 and in May blocked traffic by placing a caravan that was home to a family of four in the middle of the Lecky Road in the <unk> and staging a sit @-@ down protest at the opening of the second deck of the Craigavon Bridge . After the meeting of Londonderry Corporation was again disrupted in August , Eamon <unk> telephoned the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association ( <unk> ) and invited them to hold a march in Derry . The date chosen was 5 October 1968 , an <unk> committee was formed ( although in reality most of the organizing was done by McCann and <unk> ) and the route was to take the marchers inside the city walls , where nationalists were traditionally not permitted to march . The Minister of Home Affairs , William Craig , made an order on 3 October prohibiting the march on the grounds that the Apprentice Boys of Derry were intending to hold a march on the same day . In the words of Martin <unk> of <unk> " this particular tactic ... provided the excuse needed to ban the march . " When the marchers attempted to defy the ban on 5 October they were stopped by a Royal Ulster Constabulary ( RUC ) cordon . The police drew their batons and struck marchers , including Stormont MP Eddie McAteer and Westminster MP Gerry <unk> . Subsequently the police " broke ranks and used their batons indiscriminately on people in Duke Street " . Marchers trying to escape met another party of police and " these police also used their batons indiscriminately . " Water cannons were also used . The police action caused outrage in the nationalist area of Derry , and at a meeting four days later the Derry Citizens ' Action Committee ( <unk> ) was formed , with John Hume as chairman and Ivan Cooper as vice @-@ chairman . 
   
   = = The first barricades = = 
   
   Another group formed as a result of the events of 5 October was People 's Democracy , a group of students in Queen 's University Belfast . They organised a march from Belfast to Derry in support of civil rights , starting out with about forty young people on 1 January 1969 . The march met with violent opposition from loyalist counter @-@ demonstrators at several points along the route . Finally , at <unk> Bridge , five miles outside Derry , they were attacked by a mob of about two hundred wielding clubs — some of them studded with nails — and stones . Half of the attackers were later identified from press photographs as members of the B @-@ Specials . The police , who were at the scene , chatted to the B @-@ Specials as they prepared their ambush , and then failed to protect the marchers , many of whom ran into the river and were pelted with stones from the bank . Dozens of marchers were taken to hospital . The remainder continued on to Derry where they were attacked once more on their way to Craigavon Bridge before they finally reached Guildhall Square , where they held a rally . Rioting broke out after the rally . Police drove rioters into the <unk> , but did not come after them . In the early hours of the following morning , 5 January , members of the RUC charged into St. <unk> 's Wells and Lecky Road in the <unk> , breaking windows and beating residents . In his report on the disturbances , Lord Cameron remarked that " for such conduct among members of a disciplined and well @-@ led force there can be no acceptable justification or excuse " and added that " its effect in rousing passions and inspiring hostility towards the police was regrettably great . " 
   That afternoon over 1 @,@ 500 <unk> residents built barricades , armed themselves with steel bars , wooden clubs and <unk> , and told the police that they would not be allowed into the area . <unk> chairman John Hume told a meeting of residents that they were to defend the area and no @-@ one was to come in . Groups of men wearing armbands patrolled the streets in shifts . John ' <unk> ' Casey , a local activist , painted " You are now entering Free Derry " in white paint on the gable wall of a house on the corner of Lecky Road and <unk> Street . That corner , which was a popular venue for meetings , later became known as " Free Derry Corner " . On 7 January , the barricaded area was extended to include the <unk> , another nationalist area on a hill overlooking the <unk> . A clandestine radio station calling itself " Radio Free Derry " began broadcasting to residents , playing rebel songs and encouraging resistance . On a small number of occasions law @-@ breakers attempted crimes , but were dealt with by the patrols . Despite all this , the Irish Times reported that " the infrastructure of revolutionary control in the area has not been developed beyond the maintenance of patrols . " Following some acts of destruction and of violence late in the week , members of the <unk> including Ivan Cooper addressed residents on Friday , 10 January and called on them to dismantle the barricades . The barricades were taken down the following morning . 
   
   = = April 1969 = = 
   
   Over the next three months there were violent clashes , with local youths throwing stones at police . Violence came to a head on Saturday , 19 April after a planned march from <unk> Bridge to the city centre was banned . A protest in the city centre led to clashes with " <unk> " — unionists in sympathy with the anti @-@ civil rights stance of Ian Paisley . Police attempting to drive the protesters back into the <unk> were themselves driven back to their barracks . A series of pitched battles followed , and barricades were built , often under the supervision of Bernadette Devlin , newly elected MP for Mid Ulster . Police pursuing rioters broke into a house in William Street and severely beat the occupant , Samuel <unk> , his family and two friends . <unk> was brought to hospital " bleeding profusely from a number of head wounds . " At midnight four hundred RUC men in full riot gear and carrying riot shields occupied the <unk> . Convoys of police vehicles drove through the area with headlights blazing . 
   The following day , several thousand residents , led by the <unk> , withdrew to the <unk> and issued an ultimatum to the RUC — withdraw within two hours or be driven out . With fifteen minutes of the two hours remaining , the police marched out through the Butcher 's Gate , even as the residents were entering from the far side . The barricades were not maintained on this occasion , and routine patrols were not prevented . 
   Samuel <unk> suffered a heart attack four days after his beating . On 17 July he suffered a further heart attack and died . Thousands attended his funeral , and the mood was sufficiently angry that it was clear the annual Apprentice Boys ' parade , scheduled for 12 August , could not take place without causing serious disturbance . 
   
   = = August – October 1969 = = 
   
   The Apprentice Boys ' parade is an annual celebration by unionists of the relief of the Siege of Derry in 1689 , which began when thirteen young apprentice boys shut the city 's gates against the army of King James . At that time the parade was held on 12 August each year . Participants from across Northern Ireland and Britain marched along the city walls above the <unk> , and were often openly hostile to the residents . On 30 July 1969 the Derry Citizens Defence Association ( <unk> ) was formed to try to preserve peace during the period of the parade , and to defend the <unk> and <unk> in the event of an attack . The chairman was Seán Keenan , an Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) veteran ; the vice @-@ chairman was Paddy Doherty , a popular local man sometimes known as " Paddy <unk> " and the secretary was Johnnie White , another leading republican and leader of the James Connolly Republican Club . Street committees were formed under the overall command of the <unk> and barricades were built on the night of 11 August . The parade took place as planned on 12 August . As it passed through Waterloo Place , on the edge of the <unk> , hostilities began between supporters and opponents of the parade . Fighting between the two groups continued for two hours , then the police joined in . They charged up William Street against the <unk> , followed by the ' <unk> ' . They were met with a hail of stones and petrol bombs . The ensuing battle became known as the Battle of the <unk> . Late in the evening , having been driven back repeatedly , the police fired canisters of CS gas into the crowd . Youths on the roof of a high @-@ rise block of flats on Rossville Street threw petrol bombs down on the police . <unk> @-@ talkies were used to maintain contact between different areas of fighting and <unk> headquarters in Paddy Doherty 's house in Westland Street , and first aid stations were operating , staffed by doctors , nurses and volunteers . Women and girls made milk @-@ bottle crates of petrol bombs for supply to the youths in the front line and " Radio Free Derry " broadcast to the fighters and their families . On the third day of fighting , 14 August , the Northern Ireland Government mobilised the Ulster Special Constabulary ( B @-@ Specials ) , a force greatly feared by nationalists in Derry and elsewhere . Before they engaged , however , British troops were deployed at the scene , carrying automatic rifles and sub @-@ machine guns . The RUC and B @-@ Specials withdrew , and the troops took up positions outside the barricaded area . 
   A deputation that included Eamonn McCann met senior army officers and told them that the army would not be allowed in until certain demands were met , including the disarming of the RUC , the disbandment of the B @-@ Specials and the abolition of Stormont ( the Parliament and Government of Northern Ireland ) . The officers agreed that neither troops nor police would enter the <unk> and <unk> districts . A ' peace corps ' was formed to maintain law and order . When the British Home Secretary , Jim Callaghan , visited Northern Ireland and announced his intention to visit the <unk> on 28 August , he was told that he would not be allowed to bring either police or soldiers with him . Callaghan agreed . Accompanied by members of the Defence Committee , he was " swept along by a surging crowd of thousands " up <unk> Street and into Lecky Road , where he " took refuge " in a local house , and later addressed crowds from an upstairs window . In preparation for Callaghan 's visit the " Free Derry " wall was painted white and the " You are now entering Free Derry " sign was professionally re @-@ painted in black lettering . 
   Following Callaghan 's visit , some barricades were breached , but the majority remained while the people awaited concrete evidence of reform . Still the army made no move to enter the area . Law and order was maintained by a ' peace corps ' — volunteers organised by the <unk> to patrol the streets and man the barricades . There was very little crime . Punishment , in the words of Eamonn McCann , " as often as not consisted of a stern lecture from Seán Keenan on the need for solidarity within the area . " In September the barricades were replaced with a white line painted on the road . 
   The Hunt Report on the future of policing in Northern Ireland was presented to the Stormont cabinet in early October . Jim Callaghan held talks with the cabinet in Belfast on 10 October , following which the report 's recommendations were accepted and made public . They included the recommendation that the RUC should be ' ordinarily ' unarmed , and that the B @-@ Specials should be phased out and replaced by a new force . The new RUC Chief Constable , Arthur Young , an Englishman , was announced , and travelled to Belfast with Callaghan . The same day , Seán Keenan announced that the <unk> was to be dissolved . On 11 October Callaghan and Young visited Free Derry , and on 12 October the first military police entered the <unk> , on foot and unarmed . 
   
   = = IRA resurgence = = 
   
   The Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) had been inactive militarily since the end of the Border Campaign in 1962 . It was low in both personnel and equipment — Chief of Staff Cathal Goulding told Seán Keenan and Paddy Doherty in August 1969 that he " couldn 't defend the <unk> . I haven 't the men nor the guns to do it . " During the 1960s the leadership of the republican movement had moved to the left . Its focus was on class struggle and its aim was to unite the Irish nationalist and unionist working classes in order to overthrow capitalism , both British and Irish . Republican Clubs were formed in Northern Ireland , where Sinn Féin was proscribed . These clubs were involved in the formation of <unk> in 1967 . In Derry , the James Connolly Republican Club worked closely with Labour Party radicals , with whom they set up the Derry Housing Action Committee and Derry Unemployed Action Committee . The Derry Citizens ' Defence Association was formed initially by republicans , who then invited other nationalists to join . Although there were tensions between the younger leaders like Johnnie White and the older , traditional republicans such as Seán Keenan , both sides saw the unrest of 1968 @-@ 69 as a chance to advance republican aims , and the two shared the platform at the Easter Rising commemoration in April 1969 . 
   The events of August 1969 in Derry , and more particularly in Belfast where the IRA was unable to prevent loss of life or protect families burned out of their homes , brought to a head the divisions that had already appeared within the movement between the radicals and the traditionalists , and led to a split in December 1969 into the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA . Initially , both armies organised for defensive purposes only , although the <unk> were planning towards an offensive campaign . In Derry there was far less hostility between the two organisations than elsewhere and householders commonly paid subscriptions to both . When rioters were arrested after the Official 's Easter parade in March 1970 , Officials and <unk> picketed their trial together . At the start the Officials attracted most of the younger members . Martin McGuinness , who in August 1969 had helped defend the barricades , initially joined the Officials , but a few months later left to join the <unk> . 
   Relations between the British Army and the residents had steadily decayed since the first appearance of troops in August 1969 . In September , after clashes between nationalist and unionist crowds that led to the death of a Protestant man , William King , the British Army erected a ' peace ring ' to enclose the nationalist population in the area they had previously controlled . Roads into the city centre were closed at night and people were prevented from walking on certain streets . Although some moderate nationalists accepted this as necessary , there was anger among young people . Clashes between youths and troops became more frequent . The riot following the Officials ' Easter parade in March 1970 marked the first time that the army used ' snatch squads ' , who rushed into the <unk> wielding batons to make arrests . The snatch squads soon became a common feature of army arrest operations . There was also a belief that they were arresting people at random , sometimes days after the alleged offence , and based on the identification of people that they had seen from a considerable distance . The rioters were condemned as hooligans by moderates , who saw the riots as hampering attempts to resolve the situation . The Labour radicals and Official republicans , still working together , tried to turn the youth away from rioting and create socialist organizations — one such organization was named the Young Hooligans Association — but to no avail . The <unk> , while disapproving of riots , viewed them as the inevitable consequence of British occupation . This philosophy was more attractive to rioters , and some of them joined the Provisional IRA . The deaths of two leading <unk> in a premature explosion in June 1970 resulted in young militants becoming more prominent in the organization . Nevertheless , up to July 1971 the Provisional IRA remained numerically small . 
   Two men , <unk> Cusack and Desmond Beattie , were shot dead in separate incidents in the early morning and afternoon of 8 July 1971 . They were the first people to be killed by the British Army in Derry . In both cases the British Army claimed that the men were attacking them with guns or bombs , while eyewitnesses insisted that both were unarmed . The Social Democratic and Labour Party ( SDLP ) , the newly formed party of which John Hume and Ivan Cooper were leading members , withdrew from Stormont in protest , but among residents there was a perception that moderate policies had failed . The result was a surge of support for the IRA . The <unk> held a meeting the following Sunday at which they called on people to " join the IRA " . Following the meeting , people queued up to join , and there was large @-@ scale rioting . The British Army post at Bligh 's Lane came under sustained attack , and troops there and around the city came under fire from the IRA . 
   
   = = Internment and the third Free Derry = = 
   
   The increasing violence in Derry and elsewhere led to increasing speculation that internment without trial would be introduced in Northern Ireland , and on 9 August 1971 hundreds of republicans and nationalists were arrested in dawn raids . In Derry , residents came out onto the streets to resist the arrests , and fewer people were taken there than elsewhere ; nevertheless leading figures including Seán Keenan and Johnnie White were interned . In response , barricades were erected once again and the third Free Derry came into existence . Unlike its predecessors , this Free Derry was marked by a strong IRA presence , both Official and Provisional . It was defended by armed paramilitaries — a no @-@ go area , one in which British security forces were unable to operate . 
   Gun attacks on the British Army increased . Six soldiers were wounded in the first day after internment , and shortly afterwards a soldier was killed — the first to be killed by either IRA in Derry . The army moved in in force on 18 August to dismantle the barricades . A gun battle ensued in which a young Provisional IRA officer , Eamonn Lafferty , was killed . A crowd staging a sit @-@ down protest was hosed down and the protesters , including John Hume and Ivan Cooper , arrested . With barricades re @-@ appearing as quickly as they were removed , the army eventually abandoned their attempt . 
   The Derry <unk> had little contact with the IRA elsewhere . They had few weapons ( about twenty ) which they used mainly for sniping . At the same time , they launched their bombing campaign in Derry . Unlike in Belfast , they were careful to avoid killing or injuring innocent people . Eamonn McCann wrote that " the Derry <unk> , under Martin McGuinness , had managed to bomb the city centre until it looked as if it had been hit from the air without causing any civilian casualties . " 
   Although both <unk> operated openly , neither was in control of Free Derry . The barricades were manned by unarmed ' auxiliaries ' . Crime was dealt with by a volunteer force called the Free Derry Police , which was headed by Tony O 'Doherty , a Derry footballer and Northern Ireland International . 
   
   = = Bloody Sunday = = 
   
   An anti @-@ internment protest organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association ( <unk> ) at <unk> Camp in January 1972 was met with violence from the 1st Battalion , The Parachute Regiment ( 1 Para ) . <unk> had organised a march from the <unk> to Derry city centre , in defiance of a ban , on the following Sunday , 30 January 1972 . Both <unk> were asked , and agreed , to suspend operations on that day to ensure the march passed off peacefully . The British Army erected barricades around the Free Derry area to prevent marchers from reaching the city centre . On the day , march organisers turned the march away from the barriers and up to Free Derry Corner , but some youths proceeded to the barrier at William Street and stoned soldiers . Troops from 1 Para then moved into Free Derry and opened fire , killing thirteen people , all of whom were subsequently found to be unarmed . A fourteenth shooting victim died four months later in June 1972 . Like the killing of Cusack and Beattie the previous year , Bloody Sunday had the effect of hugely increasing recruitment to the IRA , even among people who previously would have been ' moderates ' . 
   
   = = February - July 1972 = = 
   
   Both the Provisional and Official IRA stepped up attacks after Bloody Sunday , with the tacit support of the residents . Local feelings changed , however , with the killing of Ranger William Best by the Official IRA . Best was a 19 @-@ year @-@ old local man who was home on leave from the British Army at his parents ' house in the <unk> . He was abducted , interrogated and shot . The following day 500 women marched to the Republican Club offices in protest . Nine days later , on 29 May , the Official IRA declared a ceasefire . The Provisional IRA initially stated that they would not follow suit , but after informal approaches to the British Government they announced a ceasefire from 26 June . Martin McGuinness was the Derry representative in a party of senior <unk> who travelled to London for talks with William Whitelaw , the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland . The talks were not resumed after the ending of the truce following a violent confrontation in Belfast when troops prevented Catholic families from taking over houses in the <unk> estate . 
   Political pressure for the action against the " no @-@ go " areas increased after the events of Bloody Friday in Belfast . A British Army attack was considered inevitable , and the IRA took the decision not to resist it . On 31 July 1972 , Operation <unk> was launched when thousands of British troops , equipped with armoured cars and armoured bulldozers ( AVREs ) , dismantled the barricades and occupied the area . 
   
   = = Subsequent history = = 
   
   After Operation <unk> , the British Army controlled the <unk> and <unk> by stationing large numbers of troops within the area , by conducting large @-@ scale ' search ' operations that were in fact undertaken for purposes of intelligence gathering , and by setting up over a dozen covert observation posts . Over the following years IRA violence in the city was contained to the point where it was possible to believe ' the war was over ' in the area , although there were still frequent street riots . Nationalists — even those who did not support the IRA — remained bitterly opposed to the army and to the state . 
   Many of the residents ' original grievances were addressed with the passing of the Local Government ( Northern Ireland ) Act , 1972 , which redrew the electoral boundaries and introduced universal adult suffrage based on the single transferable vote . Elections were held in May 1973 . Nationalists gained a majority on the council for the first time since 1923 . Since then the area has been extensively redeveloped , with modern housing replacing the old houses and flats . The Free Derry era is commemorated by the Free Derry wall , the murals of the <unk> Artists and the Museum of Free Derry . 
   
   