The Bogside is a neighbourhood outside the

city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

, Northern Ireland. The large gable-wall murals by the Bogside Artists, Free Derry Corner and the Gasyard Féile (an annual music and arts festival held in a former gasyard) are popular tourist attractions. The Bogside is a majority Catholic/

Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...

area, and shares a border with the Protestant/ Ulster loyalist enclave of the Fountain.

History

The Troubles

The area has been a focus point for many of the events of the Troubles; in 1969, a fierce three-day battle against the RUC and local

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

—known as the Battle of the Bogside—became a starting point of the Troubles. Between 1969 and 1972, the area along with the Creggan and other Catholic areas became a no-go area for the British Army and police. Both the

Official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

and Provisional IRA openly patrolled the area and local residents often paid subscriptions to both. On 30 January 1972, a march organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association against

internment Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

that was put into effect the year before turned into a bloodbath known as Bloody Sunday. The

British Parachute Regiment The Parachute Regiment, colloquially known as the Paras, is an airborne infantry regiment of the British Army. The first battalion is part of the Special Forces Support Group under the operational command of the Director Special Forces. The oth ...

shot dead 14 protesters and injured 14 more; this resulted in a large surge of recruitment for both wings of the IRA in the city. After Operation Motorman and the end of Free Derry and other no-go areas in Northern Ireland, the Bogside along with the majority of the city experienced frequent street riots and

sectarian Sectarianism is a political or cultural conflict between two groups which are often related to the form of government which they live under. Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo ...

conflict lasting all the way to the early 1990s. In 1974, the Official IRA declared an end to their armed campaign, with hardline volunteers on the ground already angry about the ceasefire in mid 1972. In result, Seamus Costello and other socialist militants formed the

Irish Republican Socialist Movement The Irish Republican Socialist Movement (IRSM) is an umbrella term for: * the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), a Marxist–Leninist Irish republican group formed in 1974 following a split in Official Sinn Fein ** the Irish National Liber ...

. This new movement included the

Irish National Liberation Army The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA, ga, Arm Saoirse Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group formed on 10 December 1974, during the 30-year period of conflict known as "the Troubles". The group seek ...

, the paramilitary wing of the IRSM. Derry and particularly the Bogside became one of many strongholds for the INLA; in fact all three volunteers who died in the

1981 Irish hunger strike The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republicanism, Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government ...

were from Derry or County Londonderry. The

Irish People's Liberation Organisation The Irish People's Liberation Organisation was a small Irish socialist republican paramilitary organisation formed in 1986 by disaffected and expelled members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), whose factions coalesced in the aftermat ...

, a breakaway group of the INLA, made a small but effective presence in Derry. It engaged in a feud with the INLA in the city along with other areas in Ireland from 1987 to 1992. The feud ended with the Provisionals stepping in and killing the main Belfast leadership while letting the rest of the organisation dissolve in the rest of Ireland. Throughout the rest of the 1990s, the Bogside became relatively peaceful compared to other localities of Northern Ireland at that time such as Belfast, even though street riots were still frequent. Image:Bogside_Derry_SMC_2005.jpg, The Bogside, looking down from the entrance to the city walls Image:Bloodsunmonum.jpg, Bloody Sunday Memorial Image:WestlandFromWall.jpg, Westland Street in the Bogside, viewed from the city wall (31 July 2007)

External links

Museum of Free Derry - History of the Bogside

Battle of the Bogside

Bogside & Brandywell Initiative
{{County Londonderry Derry (city) Derry and Strabane district

History

The Troubles

See also

External links