A NICRA volunteer reflects on Bloody Sunday (2002)

Charlie Morrison (1945- ) was a Derry bricklayer active in the civil rights movement during the Troubles. He was badly beaten by police during the Battle of the Bogside and later sat on the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) executive committee. Morrison was a steward during NICRA’s January 30th 1972 anti-internment march in Derry. Thirty years on, he reflected on the events of Bloody Sunday:

“At that time in Derry, very few Catholics had houses, that’s what the civil rights movement was all about. But I’ve never seen civil rights as a purely Catholic issue. It’s an all-embracing philosophy. At that time, the Protestant working-class people in this city were just as badly treated as the Catholics…

That’s how I became involved in civil rights. I helped set up street committees in the Creggan area, when it was a no-go area because there wasn’t much service from the statutory agencies. We felt that people should share their skills. We had electricians, plumbers, nurses, someone to help fill out forms. It was about giving people ownership of their lives…

I expected a big turn-out at the march because everybody was outraged about internment. It was striking that if you scanned around the march that day, you could see Sunday suits and ties – those were not people going out to be involved in riots. There were families from right across the whole social spectrum – rich people, the working class and the middle class – all marching together because it affected everybody, the introduction of this terrible legislation.

After all the other injustices, it was very brutal and went into the very soul of the community. The British Army entered houses, threw children and mothers aside and took what they wanted… Army intelligence was absolutely crazy. I had a friend who was arrested and taken to Ballykelly. He told me later that they stripped him naked and put a hessian bag over him… They put him in overalls and cut out the crotch and dragged him over concrete so his testicles were practically raw, then they got a brush shaft and stuck it up his anus. Later, he was awarded compensation for his injury.

The Civil Rights Movement was strictly non-violent… We made our protest in a peaceful and dignified manner until other people took other decisions… I had no thought in my mind that the Army was going to enter the area and use live rounds. I felt guilty afterwards about having organised a march on which so many people died. if we’d known, myself and the whole committee would not have proceeded…

I was very close to the Army when they came into the Bogside. I saw a soldier drop down and fire from the hip and I remember pulling off my steward’s armband because I thought I would be a target. Terrified, I ran into the courtyard at the back of the Rossville Flats… At that stage, I was in total confusion because the soldiers were all panning out as they were firing…

To this day I am still trying to get over Bloody Sunday. From the year 1972, I remember the march. I remember the funerals. I remember being involved in taking the statements of witnesses. No other day in the year 1972 I can recall. On reflection, it was probably the deep shock I was suffering. I’m so glad I didn’t actually see people shot dead… Events like Bloody Sunday confirmed for me that there’s a different way. When you put a gun in a man’s hands and train him to kill, what do you expect him to do?”

bloody sunday
A Bogside mural depicting the violence of Bloody Sunday, January 30th 1972