1969 жылғы Дерри қаласындағы қақтығыс немесе Богсайд шайқасы

Communal riot that took place from 12 to 14 August 1969 in Derry, Northern Ireland

The Battle of the Bogside was a large three day riot that took place from 12 to 14 August 1969 in Derry, Northern Ireland. Thousands of Catholic/Irish nationalist residents of the Bogside district, organised under the Derry Citizens' Defence Association, clashed with the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and loyalists. It sparked widespread violence elsewhere in Northern Ireland, led to the deployment of British troops, and is often seen as the beginning of the thirty year conflict known as the Troubles. Violence broke out as the Protestant loyalist Apprentice Boys marched past the Catholic Bogside. The RUC drove back the Catholic crowd and pushed into the Bogside, followed by loyalists who attacked Catholic homes. Thousands of Bogside residents beat back the RUC with a hail of stones and petrol bombs. The besieged residents built barricades, set up first aid posts and petrol bomb workshops, and a radio transmitter broadcast messages calling for resistance. However, because of gerrymandering after the partition of Ireland, it had been ruled by the Ulster Unionist Party since 1925.

Unionists maintained political control of Derry by two means. Firstly, electoral wards were gerrymandered so as to give unionists a majority of elected representatives in the city. The Londonderry County Borough, which covered the city, had been won by nationalists in 1921. It was recovered by unionists, however, following re drawing of electoral boundaries by the unionist government in the Northern Ireland Parliament. Secondly, only owners or tenants of a dwelling and their spouses were allowed to vote in local elections. Figures show that, in Derry city, nationalists comprised 61.6% of parliamentary electors, but only 54.7% of local government electors. There was also widespread discrimination in employment. due to the division of electoral wards, unionists had a majority of 12 seats to 8 on the city council. When there arose the possibility of nationalists gaining one of the wards, the boundaries were redrawn to maintain unionist control. Control of the city council gave unionists control over the allocation of public housing, which they allocated in such a way as to keep the Catholic population in a limited number of wards. Examples of such controversial

In March 1968, a handful of activists founded the Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC), with the intention of forcing the government of Northern Ireland to change its housing policies. The group's founders were mostly local members of the Northern Ireland Labour Party, such as Eamonn McCann, and members of the James Connolly Republican Club (the Northern manifestation of Sinn Féin, which had been banned in Northern Ireland). The DHAC took direct action, such as blocking roads and attending local council meetings uninvited, in order to force them to house Catholic families who had been on the council housing waiting list for a long time. By the middle of 1968, this group had linked up with the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) and were agitating for a broader programme of reform within Northern Ireland. On 5 October 1968, these activists organised a march through the centre of Derry. However, the demonstration was banned. When the marchers, including Members of Parliament Eddie McAteer and Ivan Cooper, defied this ban they were batoned by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). Gerry Fitt, the Republican Labour MP for West Belfast, brought three British Labour MPs to observe the march. Fitt took his place at the front of the march and was assaulted by RUC officers. TV pictures of Fitt, a Westminster MP, with bloody head and shirt were broadcast around the world. The actions of the police were televised and caused widespread anger across Ireland, particularly among northern nationalists. The following day, 4,000 people demonstrated in solidarity with the marchers in Guildhall Square in the centre of Derry. This march passed off peacefully, as did another demonstration attended by up to 15,000 people on 16 November. However, these incidents proved to be the start of an escalating pattern of civil unrest that culminated in the events of August 1969.

In January 1969, a march by the radical nationalist group People's Democracy was attacked by off duty Ulster Special Constabulary (B Specials) members and other Ulster loyalists during the Burntollet bridge incident, five miles outside Derry. The RUC refused to protect the marchers. When the marchers (many of whom were injured) arrived in Derry on 5 January, fighting broke out between their supporters and the police. That night, police officers broke into homes in the Catholic Bogside area and assaulted several residents. An inquiry led by Lord Cameron concluded that, "a number of policemen were guilty of misconduct, which involved assault and battery, malicious damage to property and the use of provocative sectarian and political slogans". After this point, barricades were set up in the Bogside and vigilante patrols organised to keep the police out. It was at this point that the famous mural with the slogan "You are now entering Free Derry" was painted on the corner of Columbs Street by a local activist named John Casey. On 19 April there were clashes between NICRA marchers, loyalists and the RUC in the Bogside area. Police officers entered the house of Samuel Devenny (42), a local Catholic who was not involved in the riot, and severely beat him with batons. His teenage daughters were also beaten in the attack. Devenny died of his injuries on 17 July and he is sometimes referred to as the first victim of the Troubles. On 12 July ("The Twelfth") there was further rioting in Derry, in nearby Dungiven, and in Belfast. The violence arose out of the yearly Orange Order marches commemorating the Battle of the Boyne. During the clashes in Dungiven, Catholic civilian Francis McCloskey (67) was beaten with batons by RUC officers and died of his injuries the following day. This group stated their aim as firstly to keep the peace, but if this failed, to organise the defence of the Bogside. To this end, they stockpiled materials for barricades and missiles, ahead of the Apprentice Boys of Derry march on 12 August, the Relief of Derry parade.

The annual Apprentice Boys parade on 12 August commemorates the relief of the Siege of Derry on 1 August O. S., a Protestant victory. The march was considered highly provocative by many Catholics. Derry activist Eamonn McCann wrote that the march "was regarded as a calculated insult to the Derry Catholics". Although the march did not pass through the Bogside, it passed near to it at the junction of Waterloo Place and William Street. It was here that the initial disturbance broke out. Initially, some loyalists had thrown pennies from the top of the walls at Catholics in the Bogside below, in return marbles were fired by slingshot. As the parade passed the perimeter of the Bogside, Catholics hurled stones and nails, resulting in an intense confrontation. When the advantage of this position was realised, the youths were kept supplied with stones and petrol bombs. Groups of loyalists and nationalists continued to throw stones and petrol bombs at each other. On 13 August, Jack Lynch, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the Republic of Ireland, made a televised speech about the events in Derry, saying "the Irish Government can no longer stand by and see innocent people injured and perhaps worse". He said he had "asked the British Government to see to it that police attacks on the people of Derry should cease immediately", and called for a United Nations peacekeeping force to be sent to Derry. Lynch also announced that the Irish Army was being sent to the border to set up field hospitals for those civilians injured in the fighting. Some Bogsiders believed that Irish troops were about to be sent over the border to defend them. By 14 August, the rioting in the Bogside had reached a critical point. Almost the entire Bogside community had been mobilised by this point, many galvanised by false rumours that St Eugene's Cathedral had been attacked by loyalists. After two days of almost continuous rioting, during which police were drafted in from all over Northern Ireland, the police were exhausted and were snatching sleep in doorways whenever the opportunity allowed. On the afternoon of the 14th, the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, James Chichester Clark, took the unprecedented step of requesting the British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, to deploy British troops to Derry. At about 5pm a company of the 1st Battalion, Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire (who had been on standby at HMS Sea Eagle) arrived and took over from the police.

On 13 August, NICRA called for protests across Northern Ireland in support of the Bogside to draw police away from the fighting there. That night it issued a statement: <blockquote>A war of genocide is about to flare across the North. The CRA demands that all Irishmen recognise their common interdependence and calls upon the Government and people of the Twenty six Counties to act now to prevent a great national disaster. We urgently request that the Government take immediate action to have a United Nations peace keeping force sent to Derry.

The documentary Battle of the Bogside, produced and directed by Vinny Cunningham and written by John Peto, won "Best Documentary" at the Irish Film and Television Awards in October 2004.