The Ballymurphy Massacre
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No soldier was ever charged with the murder of the victims at Ballymurphy.
Martin Luther King junior was the inspiration
For the Northern Ireland, Civil Rights association
Protests were held and they marched peacefully
The unionist majority tried to stop them brutally.
The campaign gathered momentum it was nineteen sixty nine
The unionists issued warnings that they were crossing a line
Discrimination against nationalists in Northern Ireland was rife
All they wanted was equal rights and to live a peaceful life
The situation deteriorated and the army were deployed
The unionists were now confident with England on their side
But the violence escalated against the nationalist minority
The IRA surfaced to protect the nationalist community.
The British introduced the controversial Internment without trial
And started arresting everybody that they had on file
Even those with a speeding ticket were added to their list
And they used brute force against anyone that tried to resist.
On the eleventh and twelfth of August in nineteen seventy one
The Ballymurphy estate was targeted and a roundup had begun
Six hundred British soldiers, were deployed there that day
Dragged out men and boys who were then taken away.
Soldiers opened fire and murdered eleven innocent people in cold blood
They lied saying that they were fired on and by that statement they stood
Some people who went to assist the dying, they too were shot dead
A soldier found a man on the ground and shot him point blank in the head.
A soldier put a gun in one man's mouth as he lay on his back
In a mock execution that caused, the man a fatal heart attack
Those that were murdered were unarmed and posed no threat
The British army acted with impunity and a precedent was set.
A shoot to kill policy was in place but this was denied
The authorities were determined the truth they would hide
Investigators often met a wall of silence, with contradicting lies
Missing files and missing witness statements came as no surprise.
Finally a verdict was reached and the coroners statement said
Each and every victim at Ballymurphy was unlawfully shot dead
The verdict found the victims innocent but there was bittersweet tears
Because the victims families challenge to the state, had taken fifty years.
A former soldier who witnessed it gave evidence, and had this to say
That many of the soldiers involved were like psychopaths that day
Many were on a high and determined to make their first kill
In their psychopathic minds it gave them some sort of thrill.
Richard Dannatt who was a former chief, of the British army
Described as shameful what happened, that day at Ballymurphy
He concluded that a thorough investigation should have been carried out
Maybe it would have opened Pandora's box of that I've no doubt.
Written 22nd January 2022.
Copyright © Tom Cunningham | Year Posted 2022
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