March for Justice 2018
The Bloody Sunday March for Justice 2018 will take place on Sunday 28th January 2018.
The RUC’s brutal response to the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association’s Duke Street march in 1968 is widely regarded as what launched us into decades of violent conflict.
In recognition of the 50th anniversary of those events the theme this year’s commemorative march and programme is:
We Shall Overcome
We are honoured to announce that two speakers will address this year’s march rally.
Eileen McKeown, of the Ballymurphy Massacre Campaign.
Eileen is the daughter of Joseph Corr who was shot by paratroopers in the early hours of the third day of the imposition of Internment (11th August 1971). He left his house with his teenage son when he heard bin lids being rattled. Expecting that would be about Loyalists gangs attacking the area, he was taken by surprise when he spotted paratroopers making their way down Mountain Loney. He turned to return home and was shot near the junction of the Whiterock Road. Fatally wounded he was taken to Musgrave Park Military Hospital and died three weeks later on the 27th August 1971.
Joe Delaney of the Grenfell Action Group and Justice4Grenfell
Joe was a member of the Grenfell Action Group set up to address the negligent state of the Tower in advance of the fire. He lived on one of the three walkway blocks physically attached to the tower and lost friends & neighbours in the inferno.
It seems poignant to note, that fifty years on from the Duke Street march and 46 years on from Bloody Sunday itself, the lorry for the platform at Sunday’s rally is being provided by the same company, McGlinchey Fuels, that provided the lorry heading the civil rights anti-internment march on that fateful day. We Shall Overcome.
The Full Programme of events preceding the march begin Monday 22nd January. They explore legacy and contemporary justice issues which resonate with the cause of Bloody Sunday be that locally, nationally or internationally.