Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
19th March
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Thursday 19 March 1981
See 1981 Hunger Strike
Wednesday 19 March 1986
Richard Needham, then a Northern Ireland Office (NIO) Minsiter, announced that the Department of the Environment would take over the function of setting the ‘rates’ (local government tax) in the 18 district councils that were refusing to do so. The councils were protesting against the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA).
Saturday 19 March 1988
Army Corporals Killed
During the funeral of Kevin Brady, killed at Milltown Cemetery (16 March 1988), a car approached the funeral procession at high speed. It was claimed by some present that they feared another attack by Loyalist gunmen. The car’s passage was blocked and a group of the mourners attacked the two passengers.
The two men in the car were later identified as corporals Derek Wood and David Howes of the British Army. One of the soldiers fired a warning shot but both were beaten and overpowered. The two soldiers were driven to waste ground and shot dead. Part of this incident was also recorded on television news cameras.
[The presence of the two soldiers in plain clothes in a republican district of Belfast was never adequately explained.]
Wednesday 19 March 1997
Orange Order Halls in Ballymena and Bellaghy were damaged in arson attacks.
The Belfast Walkers Club of the Apprentice Boys of Derry (ABD) announced that they would voluntarily reroute their Easter Monday parade away from the lower Ormeau area of Belfast.
Friday 19 March 1999
Ronnie Flanagan, then Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), asked John Stevens, then Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner, to examine a report written by British-Irish Rights Watch, a human rights group based in London, on the 1989 killing of Pat Finucane. The report claimed to contain new evidence about the killing
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Remembering all innocent victims of the Troubles
Today is the anniversary of the death of the following people killed as a results of the conflict in Northern Ireland
“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die
– Thomas Campbell
To the innocent on the list – Your memory will live forever
– To the Paramilitaries –
There are many things worth living for, a few things worth dying for, but nothing worth killing for.
7 People lost their lives on the 19th March between 1973– 1989
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19 March 1973
Robert Collins, (18)
Protestant
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Republican group (REP)
Died two days after found shot, Brompton Park, Ardoyne, Belfast.
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19 March 1974
Frederick Robinson, (40)
Protestant
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Killed by booby trap bomb attached to his car outside his home, Glenkeen Avenue, Greenisland, County Antrim.
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19 March 1979
Peter Woolmore, (21)
nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed in mortar bomb attack on Newtownhamilton British Army (BA) base, County Armagh
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19 March 1981
Gerry Rowland, (40)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot by sniper while travelling in car with off duty Ulster Defence Regiment member, near Crossmaglen, County Armagh.
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19 March 1988
Derek Wood, (24)
nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Undercover British Army (BA) member. Found shot, shortly after being abducted at the funeral of Irish Republican Army (IRA) member Caoimhin MacBradaigh, on waste ground off Andersonstown Road, Belfast.
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19 March 1988
Robert Howes, (23)
nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Undercover British Army (BA) member. Found shot, shortly after being abducted at the funeral of Irish Republican Army (IRA) member Caoimhin MacBradaigh, on waste ground off Andersonstown Road, Belfast.
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19 March 1989
David Braniff, (63)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Shot at his home, Alliance Avenue, Ardoyne, Belfast.
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Belfast Child 