Tag Archives: Mairéad Farrell

6th March – Deaths & Events in Northern Ireland Troubles

Deaths in the Troubles, , , , , , , , ,

Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles

6th March

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Saturday 6 March 1971

A Catholic man was shot dead by British soldiers in Belfast.

Monday 6 March 1978

The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) refused to consider talks with Ian Paisley, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and Ernest Baird, then leader of the United Ulster Unionist Movement (UUUM).

Friday 6 March 1981

Second day of visit by Margaret Thatcher, then British Prime Minister, to Northern Ireland.

 1981 Hunger Strike

See Hunger Strike

Tuesday 6 March 1984

William McConnell (35), then Assistant Governor of the Maze Prison, was shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) outside his home in east Belfast.

Sunday 6 March 1988 Gibraltar Killings

gib3 with text

Three unarmed Irish Republican Army (IRA) members were shot dead by undercover members of the Special Air Service (SAS) in Gibraltar.

[The episode sparked intense controversy and began a chain of events that lead to a series of deaths in Northern Ireland on 16 March 1988 and 19 March 1988. The British government claimed that the SAS shot the IRA members because they thought a bomb was about to be detonated. Eye-witnesses claimed that those shot were given no warning.]

See Operation Flavius

Wednesday 6 March 1991

In a court in Paris, France, five people were sentenced for attempting to smuggle guns from Libya to Ireland in 1987. The men had been members of the crew of the ship Eksund.

Monday 6 March 1995

The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) published a document written by Ken Maginnis, then Security Spokesman of the UUP, outlining a plan for a seven member commission to oversee the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons. The document had been given to John Major, then British Prime Minister, in January 1995.

[The plan was rejected by Sinn Féin (SF) and the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP).]

Friday 6 March 1998

In the village of Poyntzpass, County Armagh, Protestants and Catholics attended both funeral services for the victims of the double killings on 3 March 1998.

[Many people believed and hoped that the killings might prove a watershed in the conflict.]

Ian Paisley Jr and Sammy Wilson, then both members of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), attended a Loyalist rally in Portadown, County Armagh, which was called to oppose the Peace Process. Paisley called for the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to be “exterminated”.

[The rally was organised by the Concerned Protestants Committee (CPC) a group which was campaigning for an inquiry into the death of Billy Wright (37), who had been leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF).

See Billy Wright

The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) was critical of the DUP for taking part in the rally and claimed that the organisers were sympathetic to the LVF.]

A report in The Irish Times confirmed that the Irish nation would be defined in terms of its people, rather than its territory, in the new wording for Article 2 of the Irish Constitution. The paper also reported that the new Article 3 would enshrine the principle of consent while “expressing the wish of the majority of the Irish people for a united Ireland”. The proposed amendments to the Irish Constitution was part of the political package to bring about a settlement in the North.

Saturday 6 March 1999

David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), called for a face-to-face ‘summit’ between himself, John Taylor, then Deputy Leader of the UUP, Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), and Martin McGuinness, then Vice-President of Sinn Féin (SF).

The summit would try to break the deadlock surrounding the appointment of an Executive Committee. However, senior UUP figures said there was no secret deal that would let Sinn Féin (SF) into the power-sharing Executive without prior decommissioning by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Wednesday 6 March 2002

The Northern Ireland Assembly debated a motion proposing the expulsion of Sinn Féin (SF) from the Executive for a period of one year. The motion was tabled by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and other anti-Agreement Unionist parties. David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), had described the timing of the motion as a “stunt”.

Those requesting the debate had specifically asked for it to be held before 9 March 2002 – the date of the Ulster Unionist Council (UUC) annual general meeting. Most pro-Agreement Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) did not attend the debate and the motion was defeated. Trimble told the House of Commons that he opposed any “amnesty” for paramilitary fugitives (those described as being ‘on the run’). He said it would represent the “last straw” for many Unionist supporters of the Agreement.

  

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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.

8 People   lost their lives on the 6th  March between 1971– 1988

 

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06 March 1971
 William Halligan,   (21)

Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: British Army (BA)
Shot during street disturbances, Balaclava Street, Lower Falls, Belfast.

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06 March 1973


 Anton Brown,  (22)

nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot by sniper while on British Army (BA) foot patrol, Whitecliff Crescent, Ballymurphy, Belfast.

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06 March 1975


 Edward Clayton,   (27)

Protestant
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: non-specific Republican group (REP)
Killed by booby trap bomb attached to his car parked near to his home, Bognor Terrace, Portadown, County Armagh.

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06 March 1980
 Henry Livingstone,   (38)

Protestant
Status: ex-Ulster Defence Regiment (xUDR),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot at his farm, Cortyna, near Tynan, County Armagh.

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06 March 1984


 William McConnell,   (35)

Protestant
Status: Prison Officer (PO),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Shot outside his home, Hawthornden Drive, Belmont, Belfast.

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06 March 1988


 Mairead Farrell,  (31)

Catholic
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),

Killed by: British Army (BA)
Shot by undercover British Army (BA) members, while walking along Winston Churchill Avenue, Gibraltar.

See IRA Gibraltar team get taken out by SAS 

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06 March 1988


 Daniel McCann,  (30)

Catholic
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),

Killed by: British Army (BA)
Shot by undercover British Army (BA) members, while walking along Winston Churchill Avenue, Gibraltar

See IRA Gibraltar team get taken out by SAS 

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06 March 1988


 Sean Savage,  (24)

Catholic
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),

Killed by: British Army (BA)
Shot by undercover British Army (BA) members, while walking along Winston Churchill Avenue, Gibraltar

See IRA Gibraltar team get taken out by SAS 

 

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The Murder of Two Off Duty British Army Corporals and the events leading up to it

Blog, Deaths in the Troubles, Major events in The Troubles, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

  Operation Flavius

The execution  of three members of the IRA in Gibraltar set in motion the chain of events that would lead to the killings of David Howes and David Howes

Operation Flavius (also referred to as the “Gibraltar killings“) was a controversial military operation in which three members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) were shot dead by the British Special Air Service (SAS) in Gibraltar on 6 March 1988.

The three—Seán Savage, Daniel McCann, and Mairéad Farrell—were believed to be mounting a bombing attack on British military personnel in Gibraltar. SAS soldiers challenged them in the forecourt of a petrol station, then opened fire, killing them.

All three were found to be unarmed, and no bomb was discovered in Savage’s car, leading to accusations that the British government had conspired to murder them. An inquest in Gibraltar ruled that the SAS had acted lawfully, while the European Court of Human Rights held that, although there had been no conspiracy, the planning and control of the operation was so flawed as to make the use of lethal force almost inevitable.

The deaths were the first in a chain of violent events in a fourteen-day period; they were followed by the Milltown Cemetery attack and the corporals killings in Belfast.

Disclaimer 

The views and opinions expressed in these documentary are soley intended to educate and provide background information to those interested in the Troubles of Northern Ireland. They in no way reflect my own opinions and I take no responsibility for any inaccuracies or factual errors.

Michael Stone

The Milltown Attack

The Milltown Cemetery attack (also known as the Milltown Cemetery killings or Milltown Massacretook place on 16 March 1988 in Belfast‘s Milltown Cemetery. During the funeral of three Provisional IRA volunteers killed in Gibraltar, an Ulster Defence Association (UDA) volunteer, Michael Stone, attacked the mourners with hand grenades and pistols.

As Stone ran towards the nearby motorway, a large crowd began chasing him and he continued shooting and throwing grenades. Some of them caught him and began beating him, but he was rescued by the police and arrested. Three people had been killed and more than 60 wounded. The “unprecedented, one-man attack”  was filmed by television news crews and caused shock around the world.

Three days later, at the funeral of one of Stone’s victims, two non-uniformed British soldiers drove into the funeral procession. Bystanders, who reportedly thought it was a replay of an attack like that carried out by Stone, dragged the soldiers from their car; the two corporals were later shot dead by the IRA.

 

Corporals Wood and Howes killed by IRA 1988

British Army corporals David Howes and Derek Wood  were killed by the Provisional IRA on 19 March 1988 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in an event which became knowns as the corporals killings. The plain-clothes soldiers were killed after driving a car into the funeral procession of an IRA member.

See The Corporal Killings

see Operation Flavious

See Michael Stone

 

 

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