Bloody Sunday Reopened

From BBC:
"Bloody Sunday: Police to investigate Derry deaths"

The police are to launch a murder investigation into the deaths of 13 people shot dead by soldiers in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday in 1972. The move comes after the PSNI and Public Prosecution Service reviewed the findings of the Saville inquiry, which said none of those killed was armed. The police investigation is expected to take at least four years and involve a team of 30 detectives.

Police have said no decision has been made as to when it will start. Chief constable Matt Baggott told the Northern Ireland Policing Board: "It is a matter that I think we should be investigating and will be investigating." The Saville Inquiry said the Army had fired the first shots on Bloody Sunday and were to blame for what happened.  It published its report in June 2010, after a 12-year inquiry.

Prime Minister David Cameron issued an apology, describing what happened as "both unjustified and unjustifiable." Some relatives of victims said they wanted the soldiers responsible to be prosecuted for murder and attempted murder. Bloody Sunday occurred on 30 January 1972 - a civil rights demonstration through the streets of Derry in the north-west of Northern Ireland ended with the shooting dead of 13 civilians by the British Army. Fourteen others were wounded. The Saville Inquiry cost £195m and was the longest-running and most expensive inquiry in British history.

'Whitewash' It followed an earlier official inquiry in 1972, led by the Lord Chief Justice Lord Widgery, which was described as a "whitewash" by the families of the victims and their supporters.

Among the inquiry's findings were:

• No warning had been given to any civilians before the soldiers opened fire
• None of the soldiers fired in response to attacks by petrol bombers or stone throwers
• Some of those killed or injured were clearly fleeing or going to help those injured or dying
• None of the casualties was posing a threat or doing anything that would justify their shooting
• Many of the soldiers lied about their actions
• The events of Bloody Sunday were not premeditated
• Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein, was present at the time of the violence and "probably armed with a sub-machine gun" but did not engage in "any activity that provided any of the soldiers with any justification for opening fire"

^ This is great news. I really hope the Northern Irish police convict the soldiers who murdered the innocent people and also those that helped to cover it up. The names of those involved need to be erased from the memorials praising them as heroes (Queen Elizabeth 2 gave at least one a medal) and whenever their names are mentioned it should be with shame and disgust. ^

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18721686