Army silence 'contributed to Bloody Sunday tragedy'

The British Army’s failure to divulge its plans for an arrest operation to the Bloody Sunday march organisers contributed to the shooting by paratroopers of 27 civilians, 13 of whom died, the Saville Inquiry today heard.

Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC, acting for the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, told the inquiry that communication between the march organisers and those responsible for policing it was essential in assessing risk and the “failure to communicate was primarily, if not exclusively, the fault on the part of the army”.