5 October 1968 and the Beginning of the Troubles: Flashpoints, Riots and Memory

Abstract

The availability under the Thirty Years Rule of the Northern Irish and UK state papers for the start of the Troubles has made it possible to reassess what happened on 5 October 1968 in Derry. This article uses these files, other primary sources such as newspapers, and the ‘Flashpoints Model of Public Disorder’ to examine how the civil rights march and the police reaction transformed the contexts within which people in Derry and Northern Ireland as a whole thought and acted. It goes on to explore the three days of rioting that followed the violent scenes on Duke Street and the ‘collective remembrance’ of the event, which reached its climax during the Stormont general election campaign of February 1969. The article argues that the existing literature has overlooked not only the complexity of what happened on 5 October 1968 in Derry, but also the conflicting readings that were subsequently developed by contemporaries. The struggle to control the narrative helped drive the fragmentation and polarization in the second city that was encouraging certain individuals and groups to adopt violent strategies.

Keywords:

• 5 October 1968
• the Troubles
• Derry
• flashpoints
• riot
• memory

Notes

Other dates, of course, also have strong claims: 31 January 1913, 18 April 1918, 21 January 1919, 6 December 1921, 28 June 1922, 16 February 1932, 25 April 1938, 21 December 1948, 14 August 1969, 30 January 1972, 1 January 1973, 15 November 1985, 31 August 1994 and 10 April 1998.

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), CAB/9B/205/7, civil rights march from Coalisland to Dungannon, 29 August 1968.

PRONI, HA/32/2/28, letter from David Johnston to John Hill, 7 July 1969.

PRONI, CAB/9B/205/7, civil rights march from Coalisland to Dungannon.

PRONI, D/3253/1, letter from Frank Gogarty to ‘George’, 18 February 1969.

PRONI, CAB/9B/205/7, letter from John Greeves to Ivan Woods (before 5 October 1968).

PRONI, CAB/9B/205/7, letter from Ministry of Home Affairs to Robin North, 6 September 1968.

PRONI, CAB/9B/205/7, letter from Greeves to Woods.

Ibid.

PRONI, GOV/2/1/140, Gerry Fitt's evidence to the Cameron Commission, 25 July 1969.

PRONI, CAB/9B/205/7, letter from Eddie McAteer to Terence O'Neill, 26 August 1968.

Copy of report provided to the BBC under the Freedom of Information Action. For further details, see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7424867.stm (last accessed 19 November 2010).

PRONI, HA/32/2/26, Northern Ireland civil rights parade and meeting in Londonderry, 7 October 1968.

Ibid.

PRONI, HA/32/2/28, letter from John McAnerney to Ross McGimpsey, 30 September 1968. See also Fionnbarra Ó Dochartaigh's obituary of Vinny Coyle in Derry Journal, 31 August 1999.

PRONI, GOV/2/1/140, Fitt's evidence.

PRONI, HA/32/2/26, Northern Ireland civil rights parade.

C. Desmond Greaves, Journals, 19 October 1968, extract from the Century of Endeavour electronic archive (contact Roy Johnston at [email protected] about access).

PRONI, HA/32/2/26, Northern Ireland civil rights parade.

National Archives of the United Kingdom (NAUK), PREM/13/980, Preparations Being Made to Meet the Threat of IRA Violence, 4 April 1966.

NAUK, DEFE/25/301, MI5 Report, 20 April 1966.

PRONI, HA/32/2/26, Northern Ireland civil rights parade.

PRONI, CAB/9B/205/8, letter from John Hill to Harold Black, 20 February 1969.

Northern Ireland House of Commons Debates, Vol. 170, 16 October 1968, col. 1022.

PRONI, HA/32/2/26, note of telephone message from C. Inspector Meharg, 6 October 1968.

McClay Library, Scarman Minutes of Evidence, David Corbett's evidence to the Scarman Inquiry, 30 September 1969.

PRONI, HA/32/2/26, letter from Edward Watson to Ross McGimpsey, 7 October 1968.

House of Commons Debates, Vol. 770, 22 October 1968, cols. 1088–1090.

McCann (2008) insists that Devine was on the march, but I have found no other evidence to contradict Devine's own account of what he did on 5 October 1968.

PRONI, CAB/4/1406, memorandum by the Prime Minister, 14 October 1968.