McGurk's Bar bombing
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| McGurk's Bar | |
|---|---|
| Location | North Queen Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Date | December 4, 1971 |
| Attack type | time bomb |
| Deaths | 15 |
| Injured | 17 |
| Perpetrator(s) | Ulster Volunteer Force |
The McGurk's Bar Bombing was one of the first major atrocities of The Troubles, and occurred on 4 December 1971.
A large bomb exploded in the doorway of the predominantly Roman Catholic Tramore Bar - better known as McGurk's,[1] on North Queen Street in Belfast, collapsing the building and killing fifteen people, including two children and three women, and injuring 17. The explosion caused the biggest loss of life in Belfast in one incident during the whole of the Troubles.[2] The wife and 12-year-old daughter of the landlord, Thomas McGurk, were among those who were killed and Mr McGurk and his three sons were injured.[3] Shortly after the atrocity, Mr McGurk appeared on television calling for no retaliation, saying: "It doesn't matter who planted the bomb. What's done can't be undone. I've been trying to keep bitterness out of it." [4]
Although the preceding two years had seen increasing tensions and violence in Northern Ireland between the Catholic and Protestant communities, this was the first major attack on civilians by any of the regions paramilitary organisations, and as a result provoked a huge political and public reaction. Following the attack, riots and fighting broke out across Belfast, and over a dozen people were injured, including several soldiers and police.
Initial police speculation was that Provisional Irish Republican Army members had either planted the device as part of an internal feud between the Official Irish Republican Army and the Provisional IRA, or that the bombers had stopped off for a drink in the pub, and their bomb had accidentally detonated. At the time an Official IRA spokesman in Dublin condemned the attack and stated that its members had "nothing to do with it". The Provisional IRA made a similar denial.[3]
Seven years after the attack Robert Campbell, a self-professed Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) member, admitted being the getaway driver for the team who set the bomb, as well as an unrelated sectarian murder in 1976. He received 15 life sentences, and remains the only person ever to have been convicted in relation to the bombing.[3]
In 2001 a memorial was unveiled on the site of McGurk's bar to mark the 30th anniversary of the bombing.[3] Relatives of the victims, who held a memorial service in Belfast, called for an investigation into allegations of crown force collusion in the UVF bomb attack. Almost a thousand people attended the service at St. Patrick's Church on Donegall Street, after which fifteen wreaths, one for each victim, were carried by relatives leading a silent candlelit procession to a new memorial at Great George's Street.[5]
Patrick McGurk, the owner of McGurk’s bar, died on 15 December 2007, having forgiven those responsible for the explosion and having prayed for the men who carried out the atrocity.[6][4]
[edit] References
- ^ Daughter recalls bar bomb horror. BBC News (3 December 2001). Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
- ^ Taylor, Peter (1999). Loyalists. Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 88. ISBN 0-7475-4519-7.
- ^ a b c d 1971: Bomb demolishes crowded Belfast pub. BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
- ^ a b McGurk bar owner dies. Belfast Telegraph (17 December 2007). Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
- ^ McGurk's bomb relatives call for inquiry. An Phoblacht (6 December 2001. Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
- ^ Forgiving McGurk’s bar owner dies. Saoirse32 (18 December 2007). Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
