HISTORY – DUKE STREET

Poster advertising the first Civil rights march in Derry City, October 1968.

The date that is most commonly referred to as the beginning of the ‘Troubles’ is October 5th 1968. On this day the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association had intended to march from Duke Street in Derry’s Waterside to the city centre. As the march assembled the Royal Ulster Constabulary attacked the demonstrators in full view of the world’s media. Within hours of the event pictures of police brutality were transmitted around the globe.

The origins of the Duke Street march lay in an invitation that was issued to the NICRA by the Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC). The DHAC was established in March 1968 by members of the Derry Labour Party and the James Connolly Republican Club. This group immediately embarked on a series of direct action protests to highlight the housing problems in Derry that was the human cost of political gerrymandering. The meetings of Derry Corporation were disrupted from March onwards and other actions included house squatting and road blockages, with the DHAC gradually earning themselves a reputation for colourful and effective protests. Following the first Civil Rights march from Coalisland to Dungannon on the 24th August 1968, which several members of the DHAC attended, the DHAC decided to invite the NICRA to march in Derry City.

Following the invitation to the NICRA the proposed march was banned by William Craig, the Northern Ireland Minister of Home affairs, on the 3rd October. When the ban was announced, as a result of the Apprentice Boys of Derry’s stated intention to hold a march along the route at the same time, representatives of NICRA visited Derry on the 4th October in an attempt to have the march called off. The DHAC refused and plans for the march went ahead.

Reports on the numbers who gathered in Duke Street to participate in the march vary from 400 to 3,000 but there exists no confusion as to the events on the day. As the assembled crowd set off along Duke Street, led by the march organisers and joined by Eddie McAteer, Nationalist MP for Derry, Gerry Fitt, the Republican Labour MP for West Belfast and three British Labour MPs they encountered a RUC blockade. The head of the march clashed with the RUC and a number of injuries were inflicted by the RUC.

As the demonstrators held an impromptu public meeting the RUC moved into position behind them, blocking the only other exit from Duke Street. Then, as Betty Sinclair, a NICRA organiser from Belfast, addressed the crowd and advised them to go home, the RUC launched the assault.

Within minutes Duke Street was the scene of unrestrained violence as the RUC cleared the street with the use of boots and batons. The demonstrators were unprepared for this assault and with the RUC in control of both exits from Duke Street there was no chance of escaping unscathed. Two water cannons were introduced to finish the job of clearing the street and drove the demonstrators across Craigavon Bridge. It is estimated that 90-100 demonstrators had to be treated for their injuries. There are no reports of RUC injuries.

A demonstrator is arrested following the NICRA demonstration, Duke Street.

The first attempt by the NICRA, and their local supporters, to mobilise support in Derry City had been brutally suppressed but the reaction to events in Duke Street was unlike that of previous RUC actions. Whereas in 1951 and 1952, when St Patrick Day parades in Derry City were batoned off the streets by the RUC and quickly forgotten the events on Duke Street on Saturday 5th October were recorded by the international media. Pictures of RUC brutality were flashed around the world but the real impact was made by the footage recorded by an enterprising RTE cameraman, who vividly recorded the panic and fear that the actions of the RUC provoked in Derry.

In Derry later the same day there were clashes between the RUC and nationalist youths on the edge of the Bogside that continued into the small hours. The following day an estimated 1,000 people were involved in daylong clashes with the RUC in and around the Bogside and the first petrol bombs were thrown in Derry. Similar scenes, although involving smaller numbers, were also recorded on the 7th October and more petrol bombs were thrown.

In Belfast reaction to events in Duke Street amongst the student population of Queens University Belfast saw 2,000-3,000 people march on the 9th October in protest against RUC brutality in Derry. Following the protest at a meeting in Queen’s the People’s Democracy, a small, radical but soon to be influential collection of students and their supporters was established.

In Derry, following the violence that marked the weekend a public meeting was held on the 9th October at which the Derry Citizens Action Committee (DCAC) was formed. A steering committee of 11 were elected, with Ivan Cooper as Chair and John Hume as the Vice Chair. Other members included Paddy Doherty, Michael Canavan, Claude Wilton and Campbell Austin.

It is generally believed that the DCAC were a moderating influence on the Civil Rights campaign in Derry City and it also, with the inclusion of such respectable and well known figures as John Hume and Ivan Cooper, helped to widen the Civil rights campaign in Derry.

On the 19th October 1968 5,000 people attended a peaceful sit down protest organised by the DCAC in Guildhall Square.

Sitdown protest in Guildhall Square, October 1968.

On the 16th November 15,000 people participated in a re-enactment of the 5th October march. The march was blocked by the RUC at the cityside end of Craigavon bridge but unlike October the demonstrators had an unblocked alternative which they used, John Street. As the demonstrators moved along John Street there were clashes with loyalists who had gathered to protest at the march. Following a brief clash the loyalists withdrew and the demonstrators gathered in the Diamond. The Committee of the DCAC led the demonstration across Craigavon Bridge, 16th November 1968.

On the 23rd November 1968 the Government at Stormont announced the abolition of the Derry Corporation and the appointment of a special commission to replace it. This, together with other reforms announced the previous day, governing housing and local government reforms and an appeal by the Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terence O’Neill for calm, led both the NICRA and the DCAC to announce a ban on marches.

This self-imposed ban on marches was to end when the People’s Democracy set out on a march from Belfast to Derry on New Year’s Day 1969.