Milltown Cemetery attack

Milltown Massacre
Part of The Troubles
Milltown funerals minutes before the attack
Location	Milltown Cemetery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Date	16 March 1988
Weapon(s)	RGD-5 hand grenades, Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistol, .357 magnum revolver
Deaths	3
Injured	over 60
Perpetrator	Michael Stone

The Milltown Cemetery attack (also known as the Milltown Cemetery killings or Milltown Massacre^[1][2]) took place on 16 March 1988 in Belfast's Milltown Cemetery. During the funeral of three Provisional IRA volunteers, Ulster Defence Association (UDA) volunteer Michael Stone attacked the crowd with grenades and pistols, killing three and wounding over sixty.

Contents 1 Background 2 Attack 3 Aftermath 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

Background

On 16 March 1988, Provisional IRA members Daniel McCann, Seán Savage and Mairéad Farrell, who had been killed by the SAS in Gibraltar, were due to be buried in the republican plot at Milltown Cemetery, Belfast. In a change from normal security procedures, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and British Army had agreed to stay away from the funeral. The funeral service and requiem mass went ahead as planned, and the cortege made its way to Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road.

Attack

As the coffins were being lowered into the ground, a burst of gunfire was heard. At first, it was mistaken for the usual three-volley salute given at IRA funerals and some people even applauded. However, it was not a salute. A lone UDA member from East Belfast, Michael Stone, had infiltrated the crowd of mourners in an attempt to eliminate Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness with several RGD-5 hand grenades, a Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistol and a .357 Magnum revolver. Stone killed three people: Catholic civilians Thomas McErlean (20) and John Murray (26), and IRA member Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh (30), who had tried to disarm him. The whole event was recorded by television news cameras.

Stone made his escape towards the motorway, chased by several members of the crowd, but continued firing his handguns and throwing hand grenades at his pursuers. Stone made it as far as the M1 motorway, but was caught by the crowd, who began beating him and shouting that they would kill him. He was eventually put in the back of a car and was being driven away to be shot by the IRA, when the car was intercepted by the RUC, who arrested him and took him to Musgrave Park Hospital for treatment of his injuries. Stone later confessed to the three killings at Milltown and a further three paramilitary killings committed beforehand. The final toll was three dead and upwards of sixty injured.

Aftermath

At his trial, Stone received sentences totalling 682 years, but was released after serving just 13 years as a result of the Good Friday Agreement. Apart from time on remand spent in Crumlin Road Prison, Stone spent all of his sentence in HM Prison Maze.

Shortly after the Milltown killings, one of Stone's victims, Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh, was being buried when two plainclothes British Army Corporals (Derek Wood and David Howes) in an unmarked car drove into the path of the funeral cortege — apparently by mistake.^[3] Scenes relayed on live television showed the two corporals waving their guns before being cornered by black taxis and dragged from their car before being taken away by republicans to be beaten, stripped naked, and then shot dead.^[4][5][6][7] This event is often referred to as the corporals killings.

The Browning pistol Stone used during the killings was grabbed by the mob on the day of the attack and was eventually used by an IRA unit at Belfast to ambush a combined RUC/British Army patrol on 13 October 1990. A constable was shot dead and another badly injured.^[8]

In his autobiography, None Shall Divide Us, Stone claimed that he had received "special assistance" from RUC operatives in carrying out the cemetery attack. He also stated that he deeply regretted the hurt he had caused the families of those he killed, and paid tribute to the bravery of two of the men who had tried to disarm him at the cemetery, John Murray and Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh, whom he shot. Stone said in the book "I didn't choose killing as a career, killing chose me".

In November 2006, Stone was arrested while attempting to gain entry to the parliament buildings at Stormont while armed with an imitation handgun, three knives, a hatchet, a garrotte and several crude homemade explosive devices all of which failed to explode.^[9] On 8 December 2008 Stone was jailed for 16 years for attempting to murder Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams.^[10]

See also

The Troubles Timeline – Directory Ireland Battle of the Bogside – August 1969 riots – Battle of St Matthew's – Falls Curfew – Scottish soldiers' killings – Operation Demetrius – Ballymurphy massacre – McGurk's bombing – Bloody Sunday – Abercorn bombing – Springhill massacre – Bloody Friday – Operation Motorman – Claudy bombing – Four Square Laundry – Ulster Workers' Council strike – Dublin & Monaghan bombings – Miami Showband killings – Bayardo Bar attack – Drummuckavall ambush – Reavey & O'Dowd killings – Kingsmill massacre – Flagstaff incident – Chlorane Bar attack – Jonesborough Gazelle shootdown – La Mon bombing – Warrenpoint ambush – Dunmurry explosion – Nellie M attack – Hunger strike – Glasdrumman ambush – St Bedan attack – Ballykelly bombing – Maze Prison escape – Newry barracks – Ballygawley barracks – Loughgall ambush – Enniskillen bombing – Milltown Cemetery attack – Corporals killings – Ballygawley bus bomb – 1989 Jonesborough ambush – Derryard checkpoint – Derrygorry Gazelle shootdown – Operation Conservation – RFA Fort Victoria – Proxy bomb attacks – 1991 Cappagh killings – Glenanne barracks – Coagh ambush – Clonoe ambush – Cloghoge checkpoint – Coalisland riots – South Armagh sniper campaign – 1993 Castlerock killings – 1993 Shankill bombing – Greysteel massacre – Crossmaglen Lynx shootdown – Loughinisland massacre – Drumcree conflict – 1997 Coalisland attack – July 1997 riots – Omagh bombing England Aldershot bombing – M62 coach bombing – Guildford bombings – Birmingham bombings – Marylebone siege – Hyde & Regent's Park bombings – Harrods bombing – Brighton bombing – Deal bombing – Downing Street attack – Warrington bombings – Bishopsgate bombing – Docklands bombing – Manchester bombing Elsewhere Operation Flavius, Gibraltar 1988 – Osnabrück barracks 1996

• Timeline of Ulster Defence Association actions
• List of massacres in the United Kingdom

References

External links

• Milltown Cemetery Killings — from the CAIN project at the University of Ulster
• Photograph - People ducking as Stone shoots Belfast Telegraph archives

The Troubles History of Ireland · History of Northern Ireland · History of the United Kingdom · Irish nationalism · Irish republicanism · Irish unionism · Ulster loyalism Participants in the Troubles Chronology Political Parties Republican paramilitaries Security forces of the United Kingdom Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland Loyalist paramilitaries • Provisional IRA • Official IRA • Irish National Liberation Army • Continuity IRA • Real IRA • IPLO • British Army • Royal Air Force • Royal Navy • Ulster Defence Regiment • Royal Irish Regiment • Royal Ulster Constabulary • Ulster Special Constabulary • Garda Síochána • Irish Army • Ulster Defence Association • Ulster Volunteer Force • Loyalist Volunteer Force • Red Hand Commandos • Young Citizen Volunteers • Ulster Young Militants • Ulster Resistance • UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade Linked to • Some RUC and British Army members • Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association formed (1967) • Battle of the Bogside (1969) • Riots across Northern Ireland (1969) • Beginning of Operation Banner (1969) • Social Democratic and Labour Party formed (1970) • Internment without trial begins with Operation Demetrius (1971) • Bloody Sunday by British Army (1972) • Northern Ireland government dissolved. Direct rule from London begins (1972) • Bloody Friday by Provisional IRA (1972) • Power sharing Northern Ireland Assembly set up with SDLP and Ulster Unionist Party in power (1973) • Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape. Three Provisional IRA prisoners escape from Mountjoy Prison by helicopter (1973) • Ulster Workers' Council strike causes power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly to end (1974) • Dublin and Monaghan bombings by UVF with alleged British Army assistance (1974) • Kingsmill massacre by South Armagh Republican Action Force (1976) • Warrenpoint Ambush by Provisional IRA (1979) • 1981 Irish hunger strike by Provisional IRA and INLA members (1981) • Hunger striker Bobby Sands elected MP. Marks turning point as Sinn Féin begins to move towards electoral politics (1981) • Maze Prison escape. 38 Provisional IRA prisoners escape from H-Block 7 of HM Prison Maze (1983) • Brighton hotel bombing by Provisional IRA (1984) • Anglo-Irish Agreement between British and Irish governments (1985) • Remembrance Day bombing by Provisional IRA (1987) • Peace Process begins (1988) • Operation Flavius, Milltown Cemetery attack and Corporals killings (1988) • Bishopsgate bombing (1993) • Downing Street Declaration (1993) • First Provisional IRA ceasefire (1994) • Loyalist ceasefire (1994) • Docklands bombing (1996) • 1996 Manchester bombing (1996) • Second Provisional IRA ceasefire (1997) • Good Friday Agreement (1998) signals the end of the Troubles • Assembly elections held, with SDLP and UUP winning most seats (1998) • Omagh bombing by dissident Real IRA (1998) • Unionist parties: • Democratic Unionist Party • Northern Ireland Unionist Party • Ulster Unionist Party • Progressive Unionist Party • Conservative Party • UK Unionist Party • Traditional Unionist Voice • Nationalist parties: • Democratic Left • Fianna Fáil • Fine Gael • Labour Party • Progressive Democrats • Sinn Féin • Social Democratic & Labour Party • Workers' Party of Ireland • Irish Republican Socialist Party • Republican Sinn Féin • Cross-community parties: • Alliance Party • Historically important parties: • Nationalist Party • Northern Ireland Labour Party • Protestant Unionist Party • Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party • Northern Ireland Women's Coalition • People's Democracy • Republican Labour Party • Anti H-Block • Irish Independence Party  The Troubles at Wiktionary ·  The Troubles at Wikibooks ·  The Troubles at Wikiquote ·  The Troubles at Wikisource ·  The Troubles at Commons ·  The Troubles at Wikinews