Events happening to mark 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday
The president of Ireland, Taoiseach Micháel Martin and former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn will feature in the programme
Leading political figures from across the UK and Republic of Ireland will feature in a programme to mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
Today (Saturday) former Labour Party Leader, Jeremy Corbyn, will deliver the annual Bloody Sunday lecture in the Guildhall.
While Ireland’s President, Michael D Higgins, and Taoiseach Micháel Martin will participate in events on Sunday.
The series of events will mark the anniversary of the date when 13 civil rights protesters were shot dead in the city, by British soldiers on January 30, 1972.
Another man shot by paratroopers on the day died four months later.
While many consider him the 14th victim of Bloody Sunday, his death was formally attributed to an inoperable brain tumour.
The MP for Islington North in London will give his lecture at the same location where most of the hearings in the Bloody Sunday Inquiry took place.
Lord Saville's inquiry found that none of the casualties were posing a threat or doing anything that would justify their shooting.
The inquiry said no warning was given to any civilians before the soldiers opened fire and that none of the soldiers fired in response to attacks by petrol bombers or stone throwers.
Saville found there was "some firing by republican paramilitaries" but that on balance the Army fired first.
Former prime minister David Cameron told the House of Commons in 2010 that the killings were "unjustified and unjustifiable".
Meanwhile, President Higgins' recorded message to the Bloody Sunday families will be shown to the public on Sunday.
It will be broadcast during the commemorative event Beyond the Silence, which will take place before a limited audience in Guildhall Square.
The event will be hosted by actor Adrian Dunbar and will feature tributes to the victims, as well as music and public performances.
Guildhall Square will then fall silent on Sunday at the precise time when 50 years earlier paratroopers opened fire on civil rights marchers in the Bogside.
Earlier on Sunday, relatives of those who were shot and injured will take part in a walk of remembrance which will set out from Creggan Shops and make its way to the Bloody Sunday Monument in Rossville Street for the annual memorial service and wreath-laying ceremony at 11am.
Irish premier Mr Martin will lay a wreath and is also expected to meet privately with the families of those killed.
Director of the Bloody Sunday Trust, Maeve McLaughlin said: “We’ve an ambitious programme of events and I think it’s right as well that the magnitude of the event is fitting to the event and fitting to the families.
“The event itself and the anniversary is a significant time for us all.
“Bloody Sunday is in the fabric of the people of Derry.
“Bloody Sunday was something in my childhood in the Bogside, it was the backdrop to your life.”
While Bloody Sunday Trust chairperson, Tony Doherty, has encouraged everyone from the city to take part.
He said: "We would like all the people of the city and beyond to join us, regardless of your political persuasion, regardless of your beliefs, religious, political or otherwise and stand in solidarity with us on Sunday morning."
Read More:
Police brand pipe bomb attack in Co Armagh housing estate as "reckless"
"It never leaves you" - Bloody Sunday victim's brother 50 years on
Daisy Hill Hospital: emergency general surgery set to be halted