A joint meeting of all the Wolfe Tone Societies took place in Derry in August 1966 in which it was proposed that a non-partisan civil rights campaign be started to influence cultural and political trends in the country and by using democratic means, weaken the bigoted Unionist government of Northern Ireland. IRA Chief of Staff Cathal Goulding was present and pledged support. The IRA had ceased military operations four years earlier after the failure of its Border Campaign and felt that it was now time to try political opposition. Perhaps a campaign of civil disturbance could unseat Belfast’s unionist government. From that meeting the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was formed to campaign for civil rights by publicizing, documenting and lobbying for an end to abuses against the Catholic population. Since Northern Ireland’s creation in 1922, Roman Catholics had suffered from varying degrees of discrimination which the state allowed to happen. The areas in which discrimination against Catholics was alleged were voting, policing, employment and housing.
In voting, only those who owned property or businesses could vote. The system was weighted heavily in favor of the Unionist community and many areas with a Catholic majority were Unionist-controlled. In policing, Catholics in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) were only 12% and the Ulster Special Constabulary reserve police force was comprised largely of Loyalist paramilitary volunteers. As for employment, three times as many Catholics were unemployed as Unonists. Housing was related to electoral representation and even if a Catholic did own (not rent) a house, the vote was restricted to owner and his wife; children over 21 and servants or tenants were excluded from voting. Since the allocation of public housing meant the allocation of votes, whoever controlled the allocation of public housing controlled the voting in that area.
Since 1964, evidence of discrimination had been publicized and marches brought anti-Catholic discrimination to the attention of the media and to politicians in Westminster, but to no avail. The idea of developing this non-partisan civil rights campaign into one with wider objectives as an alternative to military operations was not without opposition. The peaceful marches were continuously attacked and four days after one attack on a NICRA march in Derry on 5 October 1968 by the RUC, the People’s Democracy (PD) was formed at Queen’s University in Belfast. This was a political organisation that, while supporting the campaign for civil rights, stated that such rights could only be achieved through the establishment of a socialist republic for all of Ireland demanding more radical reforms than NICRA. The group consisted mainly of students who were involved with NICRA or left wing groups such as the Labour Clubs and Young Socialist Alliance. They decided on five aims: One man, one vote; repeal of the Special Powers Act; an end to gerrymandering electoral boundaries; Freedom of Speech and Assembly and fair allocation of jobs and housing.
After several marches in Belfast, PD decided to imitate Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Selma to Montgomery marches which had gained world-wide publicity. About 40 PD members started on a four-day march from Belfast to Derry on 1 January 1969 to publicize their aims. Supporters of Ian Paisley and Ronald Bunting – two Unionist extremists – denounced the march as seditious and mounted counter-demonstrations along the route. On the first day of the march, just outside Antrim the marchers ran into a police barricade, behind which several hundred loyalists were gathered, led by Bunting. The RUC refused to remove the blockade and after several scuffles, the marchers were driven in police tenders to Whitehall Community Centre where they spent an unsettled night. The next day, the marchers set off for Randalstown but again found their way blocked by Bunting and a crowd of Unionists. Again the RUC refused to remove the protesters and the marchers were eventually transported to Toome by car. The marchers were welcomed at Toome and then set out for Maghera. After several miles Unionist protestors, led by Bunting, again halted the march. Another stand off ensued and as locals gathered to support the marchers the RUC asked the Unionists to stand aside, which they did. The marchers then made their way towards Maghera, where Unionists had gathered to await their arrival. On hearing that this ‘reception’ committee, was armed with clubs and sticks, the marchers decided to bypass the village and spent the night at Brackaghreilly. The next day the marchers marched on through Dungiven and Feeny to Claudy, where they received a friendly reception and spent the night. That night a loyalist attack on the hall in which the marchers stayed was repulsed by locals. The same night in Derry a rally was held by Ian Paisley in the Guildhall in which Bunting called for loyalists to gather the next day at Burntollet Bridge outside Derry. Later that night stockpiles of bottles and stones were left by loyalists in the fields around Burntollet Bridge.
On 4 January, the marchers, who now numbered near 500, set out on the last leg of their journey to Derry. Local RUC District Inspector Harrison met the march and claimed that there was no danger ahead. With the RUC leading the way the marchers advanced. In the field overlooking the road the marchers spotted a vast number of Unionists, identified by white armbands, armed with cudgels. A bombardment of missiles was launched on the marchers who tried to escape by speeding up the road where they encountered a second group of Unionists blocking their escape. The unarmed marchers were trapped in a well-planned ambush and brutally attacked by about 300 Unionists including off-duty special constables, armed with iron bars, bottles and sticks spiked with nails. Th RUC did little to prevent the violence while police stood by and watched.
The battered and bloody marchers somehow made it to Derry and the city closed around them erecting barricades as in January 1969 Free Derry was born. That night clashes occurred as members of the RUC attacked the Bogside, running amok, breaking windows, assaulting residents and directing sectarian abuse at the residents. A call was placed to Belfast and riots in Belfast erupted to take the ‘heat’ off Derry. Stormont Prime Minister Terrence O’Neill issued statements blaming the marchers for the violence, the attackers largely evaded prosecution and Unionists celebrated the ambush as a victory. Many saw the event as proof that the Northern Ireland policy could not be reformed by peaceful means. One academic described the ambush at Burntollet Bridge as the spark that lit a prairie fire. In later years, members of the PD either quit politics altogether or became independent left-wing activists, but the Troubles had begun once more.