Ballymurphy massacre: Calls grow for UK government apology after inquest finds victims ‘entirely innocent’
The UK government is facing growing calls to formally apologise to the families of 10 civilians shot dead in west Belfast in the early 1970s, after an inquest found the Ballymurphy victims were “entirely innocent”.
A coroner’s ruling on Tuesday found the British Army fired the fatal shots which killed nine, with not enough evidence around the final death.
It also concluded the victims - which included 19-year-old boys, a mother-of-eight and a Catholic priest - had no weapons and did not pose a threat.
The deaths took place over three days in 1971 as internment was introduced in Northern Ireland, which allowed paramilitary suspects to be held indefinitely without trial, and violence erupted in response to mass arrests.
After Tuesday’s findings found the victims were “entirely innocent”, the UK government has faced calls to apologise for the events which have become known locally as the Ballymurphy Massacre.
These have been backed by Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, Michelle O’Neill.
“There are calls for an apology and I would obviously support that as a bare minimum,” she said on Tuesday. “But what these families now deserve is access to justice.”
Ulster Unionist MLA Mike Nesbitt said the shootings should not have happened, adding an apology “swims in the shallow end of where we need to be”.
He told the BBC’s Stephen Nolan Show the campaign over the Ballymurphy deaths “clearly isn’t over”.
“I think they will be going from truth to a search for justice, and they are totally justified to do that because we believe nobody is above the law no matter what uniform they choose to wear,” he added.
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Colum Eastwood and Alliance Party leader Naomi Long urged the government to “step up and formally apologise for the actions of the Army on the day in question”.
Ms Long said: “We saw how much a similar apology in relation to Bloody Sunday meant to the families there, and I encourage the government to acknowledge the courage of the Ballymurphy families with a similar statement.”
In 2010, David Cameron apologised to the families of 13 civil rights marchers in Londonderry in 1972 who were fatally shot by soldiers after an inquiry found all were innocent.
On Tuesday evening, Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis acknowledged the hurt to the families of the 10 people killed.
“The government will carefully consider the extensive findings set out by the coroner, but it is clear that those who died were entirely innocent of wrongdoing,” he said.
Coroner Mrs Justice Keegan acknowledged in her lengthy rulings that the killings took place in a “highly charged and difficult environment”.
However, she said it was “very clear” that “all of the deceased in the series of inquests were entirely innocent of any wrongdoing on the day in question”.
Relatives of those killed in the events of 9 to 11 August in west Belfast had been campaigning for 50 years to clear the names of the victims.
Images showed family members with fists raised in the air after Tuesday’s verdict while holding photographs of victims with “innocent” written underneath.
Additional reporting by Press Association
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