March was delayed to 'ensure safety'

The march which became Bloody Sunday was postponed for two weeks so it could be organised to be safe and dignified, it was claimed today.

Former Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association activist Brid Ruddy also claimed another NICRA organiser, Brigid Bond, discussed the demonstration with the city’s RUC chief Superintendent Frank Lagan and expected everything to be fine.

Giving evidence to the Saville Inquiry investigating the Army shootings during the march 29 years ago, Mrs Ruddy said the march was one of three big demonstrations organised by NICRA to show mass opposition to internment, which was introduced in August 1971.

‘‘NICRA was being pressurised by their communities to help people voice their demands,’’ she said.

‘‘They had to give them those three marches and they did the best they could to make them safe as possible.

‘‘Any deaths that day were a direct result of those people who opened fire on innocent people.’’

A member of the more radical People’s Democracy whose father, Frank McGlade, was interned, Mrs Ruddy did not attend the demonstration herself.

But she described discussions between the main NICRA executive and the local CRA in Derry and a meeting at which the march was put off for two weeks.

‘‘I remember this happening and it shows that our whole concern all the time was proper organisation, protection, dignity and safety.

‘‘People were coming from all over for this march and we wanted the organisers to be given as much time as possible to get everything done properly.

‘‘We were responding to popular demand but we had to organise ourselves well because of police and Army intervention and to keep everyone as safe as possible.’’

Mrs Ruddy dismissed suggestions that the leading personalities in NICRA were hardliners.

She stated: ‘‘For me these people were supporting civil rights and that was all. They were steady, solid, conservative and conscientious.

‘‘It was people like me who were radical. Coming from PD, I had a different way but I would never antagonise them. None of us were confrontational or violent in any way.

‘‘Some of us had a republican background but it is absolute rubbish to suggest that the NICRA executive or NICRA itself was a violent or a republican organisation.’’