Bloody Friday: media united in revulsion at slaughter of innocents

On both sides of the Irish border, and across the UK, newspapers carried graphic images of the July 21, 1972 carnage unleashed on the streets of Belfast by the increasingly murderous Provisional IRA.

As the news of the final death toll of nine, with a further 130 injured, also reverberated around the world, the News Letter branded that date a “day of infamy”.

The paper said that the Provos had “reached new depths of depravity with a series of bomb attacks that shocked the world”.

It was widely believed that the scale and ferocity of the bombings was an obvious attempt to provoke an equally vicious loyalist reaction.

One report said: “Security chiefs said they were convinced that this latest bomb wave was a deliberate attempt by a now desperate IRA to provoke a sectarian war in Northern Ireland.”

Another said: “The hub of Belfast resembled a disaster area with mutilated bodies, people with torn limbs, women and children in hysterics and bombed buildings engulfed in flames.”

The News Letter also reported that a police spokesman denied an IRA claim that warnings about the Oxford Street and Cavehill Road shopping centre bombs had been given.

“Even if what they say was true, the warnings would have been completely useless. There were so many bombs it would have been impossible to clear all the areas in time,” the RUC spokesman said.

“As far as we are concerned they set out to kill and cripple people and they most certainly succeeded.”

Shops, factories and offices across Northern Ireland closed at 11am on the Monday after the bombings to mark a day of mourning, with many workers attending one of several open air services in memory of those who died.

The following day, the News Letter reported: “Bomb after bomb pounded the centre of Belfast yesterday and with each explosion the anger of the ordinary citizens grew.

“The full horror of the Provisional IRA campaign was epitomised in Oxford Street.

“A black pall of smoke hung over the bus station where a big fire was gaining hold. On the ground lay the remains of what, only seconds before, had been a human being. The scene almost defied description.

“Pools of blood oozed over the pavements dripping into drains. Human limbs lay tangled and distorted among the smouldering wreckage.

“Polythene bags were used to pick up the gruesome pieces.”

The report said they although Belfast had already suffered several terrorist bomb atrocities prior to Bloody Friday, members of the emergency services dealing with the immediate aftermath of the bomb blitz “bore visible signs of distress,” including “the occasional tear”.

In a front page editorial, the paper said: “This must not go on”.

It said the bombings had shown “the extent of the task that lies ahead for the security forces,” and added that “bombs planted to take the greatest toll of life, shattered the bodies of men, women and children in a fiendish holocaust of murder and hate”.

In the days that followed, it was clear that the anger felt in Northern Ireland was replicated south of the border.

One article quoted the Irish prime minister condemning the “mindless violence”.

It said: “The ferocity of yesterday’s ‘vile events’ in Belfast created a deep sense of shock and outrage in the Republic, made worse by the scenes of horror shown in the main news bulletin on RTE last night.

“The Eire Prime Minister Mr Jack Lynch was joined in total condemnation of the deaths and injuries by the leaders of the two main opposition parties.

“The Fine Gael leader Mr Cosgrave described the bombings as mindless violence, while the Labour leader Mr Corish said they were dastardly acts for which sympathy was insufficient.

“In a statement from Cork last night, Mr Lynch said the whole nation would be heart stricken by the savagery which had taken so many innocent lives and injured scores of people.

“We must act as to ensure a permanent end to these vile events,” he said.

The article quoted Mr Cosgrave as saying: “The bombings in Belfast have further horrified all right-thinking people in this country. No condemnation of this mindless violence and bloodshed involving the slaughter of innocent people can be too strong. These atrocities bring nothing but sorrow, shame and dishonour in our country.”

A late ‘sixth’ edition of the Belfast Telegraph on the day of the bombings carried the initial, unconfirmed reports of three people having been killed at the Oxford Street bus station (later known to be six) and three more in Ballysillan (later confirmed as shops on the Cavehill Road).

“As smoke and dust rose from the wreckage of the blasts, the air was filled with the sound of wailing sirens from ambulances, fire engines and police vehicles,” the front page article said.

“Traffic on many routes through the city was in complete chaos, for many streets had been sealed off,” it added.

The same edition also reported that soldiers coming to aid to those affected by one of the blasts were fired on from Unity Flats.

While there was nothing but revulsion at the work of the Provisional IRA, newspapers carried many tributes to the skill and bravery of the emergency services who placed themselves in danger in an effort to save as many of the injured as possible.

A spokesman at Ambulance Control told the Belfast Telegraph: “Our ambulance crews were absolutely marvellous. Many of our men were obviously personally upset at the sights they were confronted with at some of the scenes. But they battled on.”

The paper also spoke to one eyewitness who said: “Smoke was everywhere and I could hear people screaming. Then everybody wanted to help but somebody told us to stay clear because they thought there was another bomb.

“There was a horrible smell and a lot of blood on the pavement.”

An editorial in the Irish Press said: “Every Irish man and woman must stand appalled and ashamed of the horror that was perpetrated in Belfast yesterday in the name of Irish unity.

“It is to be profoundly hoped that out of the shock of yesterday’s events may come the impetus to start the talk which alone can now save Ireland from what could be the darkest period in her troubled history.”

There was no edition of the Irish News the following day as the newspaper’s building in Upper Donegall Street was one of those damaged by a bomb blast and subsequent fire.

As well as the Bloody Friday attacks in Belfast, there were a number of other bomb blasts that evening, and into the early hours of July 22, in Newtownabbey, Strabane, Lurgan and Portadown.

READ: Bloody Friday - day of infamy as civilians became target for Provisional IRA bomb blitz