Plot

A dramatization of the Irish civil rights protest march and subsequent massacre by British troops on January 30, 1972.

Documentary-style drama showing the events that led up to the tragic incident on January 30, 1972 in the Northern Ireland town of Derry when a protest march led by civil rights activist Ivan Cooper was fired upon by British troops, killing 13 protesters and wounding 14 more.—Anonymous

Don Mullan's politically influential book Eyewitness Bloody Sunday (Wolfhound Press, 1997). We see the events of the day through the eyes of Ivan Cooper, a SDLP Member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland who was a central organizer of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in Derry on 30 January 1972. The march ended when British Army paratroopers fired on the demonstrators, killing thirteen instantly and wounding another person who died 4½ months later.

Ivan organizes a march in Northern Ireland to increase awareness & to fight for equality in civil rights, along with the end of Unionist rule, with the British. The British army in response bans all parades & marches in light of the security situation in Northern Ireland. The day starts with British troops in heavy numbers occupying the streets of Derry. Jerry is an ordinary Irishman who has a girlfriend, leads an ordinary life & is an SDLP member. Jerry leaves his home on 30th Jan with his friends, to join Ivan & other SDLP members for the march. The British commanders order troops to make as many arrests as possible & authorize them to use deadly force if the Irish start any violence.

Meanwhile Ivan is distributing pamphlets to women & children to join their march. The British army is given explicit instructions to pick up the key members of SDLP during the march. Ivan is worried at the huge military presence but decides to proceed with the march to keep the Irish civil rights movement alive. Ivan is adamant to have a peaceful march & warns the IRA to keep away from the event.

A British general Ford flies into Derry to oversee operations & is almost convinced that the Irish will create trouble. His entire squad refers to the Irish as hooligans. The general approves of the plan to catch the marchers into a pincer with 2 companies of the British army swooping from opposite sides.

The Derry police chief contacts Ford and says that he has spoken to SDLP, who want to avoid a confrontation. Ford simply ignores him. His junior explains that 43 British troops have lost their life in operations in Northern Ireland & now Britain has had enough. The Police chief warns Ivan that the British are hard-lined & that Ivan should think about canceling.

The marchers gather at the starting point, including Jerry. After a brief speech from Ivan, the marchers start. The crowd is thousands of people strong & contains many women & children. Their progress is closely followed by the British army. to avoid confrontation, Ivan decides to change the march path, but one faction of young marchers breaks away into the road which leads to the strongest checkpoints that the British have put up. Ivan goes after this group & tries to turn them back but fails & soon the Irish are face to face with the British army. Despite Ivan's efforts the breakaway faction starts stone pelting & the British respond with water cannons & rubber bullets.

As the tension escalates, the British deploy tear gas & real bullets, killing 2 Irish. Ivan goes back to the main march & addresses the gathering on merits on non-violence to achieve their means of independence from the British union. The British start the pincer attack to arrest the protesters, but the breakaway faction rejoins the main group & brings down the entire British force onto the marchers.

Live shots by British kill many Irish as they open fire on defenseless Irish. Jerry & his friends are injured as well. The British ignore calls for ceasefire from within their own ranks & continue their cold-blooded murder & even shoot folks who come to rescue the injured or the injured trying to crawl away from the shooting. As the chaos mounts, so does the body count. As sanity resumes, the British figure that they have just fired an enormous amount of ammo on open crowds in front of the media & now they have to have some reasons for it. So, they instruct the troops to search for weapons, which they don't find.

The British General Ford claims that his troops fired only in retaliation but admits that none of his soldiers were hit. Irish try to take Jerry to the hospital, but are stopped by an army roadblock & not allowed to proceed & Jerry dies. Ivan manages to reach the hospital & finds that they are overwhelmed with injured people lying in the halls. 13 dead & 14 injured. The British stuff Jerry's body with explosives to prove that they were attacked & open it up to the media.

Ivan issues a statement saying that the British have destroyed the civil rights movement & given the IRA the biggest victory it will even have & the British will reap the consequences.