Today in Labor History July 10, 1921: Bloody Sunday: Seventeen people died and 200 houses were destroyed during rioting and gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The violence erupted the day before the beginning of a truce that was supposed to end the Irish War of Independence. As the truce approached, police launched a raid against republicans. However, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) ambushed them, killing an officer. In retaliation, Protestant loyalists attacked Catholic enclaves in west Belfast. As a result, Protestants and Catholics paramilitaries battled each other in the streets. There were also gun battles between Republicans and the police. And police also fired indiscriminately at Catholic civilians. Belfast, alone, saw almost 500 people killed from 1920–22 in political and sectarian violence related to the Irish War of Independence.
The Irish War of Independence has been portrayed in the play “The Shadow of a Gunman,” by Seán O'Casey, the 1929 novel, “The Last September,” by Elizabeth Bowen, the 1931 short story, “Guests of the Nation,” by Frank O'Connor and the more recent novels: “Troubles,” by J. G. Farrell (1970), “The Old Jest,” (1979) by Jennifer Johnston, and “The Soldier's Song,” (2010) by Alan Monaghan.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #irish #independence #Revolutionary #belfast #BloodySunday #ireland #republican #catholic #protestant #civilians
