Church leaders meet relatives of Bloody Sunday victims

Protestant church leaders will meet relatives of the victims of Bloody Sunday today, one day after the long-awaited publication of the Saville Report.

The church delegation includes Bishop Ken Good, Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry & Raphoe, the Rev Dr Norman Hamilton, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, and the Rev Paul Kingston, President of the Methodist Church. They will meet the family members at the Bloody Sunday Memorial in Londonderry this morning.

Lord Saville’s report concluded that soldiers had shot dead 13 people – and a fourteenth who died later as a result of injuries - without justification. The victims were fired upon by British paratroopers during a civil rights demonstration in Londonderry in 1972.

“The firing by soldiers of 1 Para caused the deaths of 13 people and injury to a similar number, none of whom was posing a threat of causing death or injury,” the report read.

“We found no instances where it appeared to us that soldiers either were or might have been justified in firing.

“Despite the contrary evidence given by soldiers, we have concluded that none of them fired in response to attacks or threatened attacks by nail or petrol bombers.”

Lord Saville’s report overturns the findings of the controversial Widgery Report which cleared soldiers of any wrongdoing and instead put the blame on the victims by claiming they had been armed.

The Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Rev Alan Harper, said the contents of the 5,000-page report would be “painful” for many people and that its conclusions and recommendations “may meet with limited acceptance by some people”.

“It deserves and will require careful reflection rather than instant reaction,” he said.

“Christian people will also want to ensure that their reflection is the subject of humble prayer and I ask members of the Standing Committee to join in that process of prayerful reflection.

“We know only too well that history cannot be rewritten and that although this tragic and devastating episode in our troubled past has received exhaustive (and yet incomplete) scrutiny, many others have not, will not and cannot.

“Therefore, as we hold the victims of Bloody Sunday in our prayers let us continue also to remember the thousands of others whose suffering continues.

“My hope is that the lessons of the past will help us to build and sustain a better future for all our people and that neither bitterness nor disappointment will be allowed to blight our future.”

The release of Lord Saville’s report was met with cheers by thousands of people who had gathered outside Londonderry’s Guildhall.

In an unprecedented move, Prime Minister David Cameron apologised for the deaths. He told the House of Commons yesterday that he was “deeply sorry” on behalf of the Government and the country.

“Unjustified and unjustifiable. What happened should never have happened,” he said.

Bishop Good said the report presented an opportunity for communities divided over their interpretation of events on Bloody Sunday to heal some of their differences.

He called for a careful reading of Lord Saville’s report and expressed his support for a “meaningful review” of the circumstances in which people had lost loved ones in other incidents during the Troubles.

He said: "The publication of Lord Saville's Report on the events of Bloody Sunday presents the people of this city and community with a significant opportunity for growth in how we understand our shared history as well as an opportunity for further healing of our community relationships.

“As a consequence of this Report and of what will flow from it, we all now have the possibility of moving forward together with a more accurate and shared appreciation of one of the key moments of our turbulent and troubled shared history.

“Let us reach out to one another across our community and build upon this understanding."