‘It is justice at last’

A SIMPLE thumbs-up from one of the relatives of a Bloody Sunday victim locked inside the imposing Guildhall in Derry heralded what would be an unprecedented, frank and historic apology from the British Prime Minister, David Cameron.

More than 38 years after British troops opened fire on unarmed civil rights marchers in the city’s Bogside, the mammoth Saville Inquiry report finally affirmed the innocence of the 14 people who died.

The jubilation among the thousands of Derry people who gathered to hear the verdict of the inquiry, the longest in British legal history, was palpable.

John Kelly, whose brother Michael was shot dead, summed up that mood of renewal when he symbolically ripped up a copy of the original “whitewash” Widgery Report into the 1972 murders.

“Our struggle was for the truth and for justice which only truth can bring. Let the light of that be your guide, the light of justice, let justice be the light, let justice be done to the heavens. Thank you, we have overcome,” he said.

A procession of families then loudly and proudly pronounced all of their loved ones as innocent.

Massive banners with photographs of the 14 civil rights marchers who were murdered on that infamous wet January day in 1972 were also held aloft.

They were brought to the city’s Guildhall Square by relatives who paraded solemnly to the city centre earlier in the day.

They were joined by thousands of Derry people who observed a minute’s silence for the dead before anxiously watching David Cameron’s Westminster speech on a massive screen.

Loud cheers and applause greeted the British Prime Minister’s blunt admission that the actions of the soldiers on a day that changed Northern Ireland forever were “unjustifiable and unjustified”.

He said: “On behalf of the government, indeed on behalf of our country, I am deeply sorry.”

Speaking after the speech, local man Edward Fegan, 82, who worked with the American Navy in his youth, summed up the feelings of those present.

“I hope that this is the end of it now and we get back to square one,” he said.

With banners backing the city’s bid for Britain’s City of Culture prize, Derry has undoubtedly already begun that process of transformation.

European money is helping to improve the city’s landscape and already most of the old terraced housing along the route of the original march from Creggan towards the city centre has been demolished and replaced by more modern houses.

A greying Eugene McGeehan, 69, a retired teacher, who was in the city on Bloody Sunday could not hide his emotion as he revelled in the moment.

His comments undoubtedly spoke for the vast majority of the city’s residents: “It is justice. It does not matter how long we have had to wait. It is justice at last.”