The

Northern Irish Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

resulted in 11 deaths in or near the mainly Protestant

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

town of

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...

. Eight people were killed by various

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

groups, and three by the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...

(IRA). Two of the IRA victims were members of the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

; the other victim was a civilian. Of the eleven victims, six were

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

s and five were

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

s. Some of those killings are described below:

1974

Sean and Brendan Byrne, aged 54 and 45, Catholics and brothers, were shot by the

Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and Timeline of Ulster Defence Association act ...

(UDA) at their pub in Tannaghmore outside Ballymena on 24 May 1974. The pub had stayed open during the

Ulster Workers' Council The Ulster Workers' Council was a loyalist workers' organisation set up in Northern Ireland in 1974 as a more formalised successor to the Loyalist Association of Workers (LAW). It was formed by shipyard union leader Harry Murray and initially fail ...

strike. The gunmen arrived at the pub in a convoy with a busload of other loyalists. All 30 men were detained at a police road block. Two were later sentenced to life imprisonment.

1976

Yvonne Dunlop, aged 27, a Protestant, was killed as the result of a

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

firebomb in the shop where she worked on Bridge Street on 9 October 1976. Among those jailed for the attack was IRA member

Thomas McElwee Thomas McElwee (30 November 1957 – 8 August 1981) was an Irish republican who participated in the 1981 hunger strike and a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). From Bellaghy, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, he di ...

, 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 ...

. Later that same day, a 40-year-old Catholic man, Sean McCrystal, was killed in retaliation by the

Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaig ...

. His burning body was found on waste ground on North Street close to Bridge Street. On November 6, 1976 at 8:30pm, the Provisional IRA detonated an explosive device containing 500lb of explosives outside the Raglan Bar (named after Lord Raglan) in Queen Street, Ballymena without warning. 37 people were injured. Ten of these were kept over in hospital, of whom two were very seriously injured.

1978

John Lamont, a 21-year-old Protestant RUC reservist, was shot by the IRA in George Street while he was on duty by himself. He was the first member of the police service to be killed in Ballymena.

1987

Norman Kennedy, a 41-year-old Protestant RUC officer, was shot dead at his home in Murob Park by the IRA on 26 July 1987.McKittrick et al ''Lost Lives'', pp. 1087-88

References

Links

NI Conflict Archive on the Internet

Hansard
{{DEFAULTSORT:The Troubles In Ballymena