A crisp winter day in Derry. Fifteen thousand gathered to protest against detention without trial. At ten past four, British paratroopers opened fire. Twenty-eight people were shot, some in the back as they fled. Fourteen were killed: seven, teenagers.
Some, like Northern Ireland secretary Karen Bradley and defence secretary Gavin Williamson, think there’s nothing to see here, saying that British soldiers in Northern Ireland were “fulfilling their duties in a dignified and appropriate way”, and should be above the law.
Others take Bloody Sunday more seriously. It has been the subject of inquiries and prime ministerial apologies and, now, a prosecution. Still, the events of that day are treated as an aberration, pathologised like a weeping mole on smooth skin.
