On This Day / August 18, 1971

Summary: On This Day – 18th August 1971, allegations of detainee mistreatment intensified opposition to internment as Cardinal Conway demanded accountability. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.

‘Humiliating and Brutal Treatment’ | On This Day – 18th August 1971

IN HIS statement on internment on Sunday, Cardinal Conway said there was prima facie evidence that innocent people had been taken from their homes and been subjected to ‘humiliating and brutal treatment by security forces.

Answering the Cardinal’s statement, the British Army said that all allegations against it were thoroughly investigated:

‘If the Cardinal has clear evidence, it is hoped he will forward it to the GOC immediately’.

Statements taken by the Association of Legal Justice from men who were detained by the British Army in the internment round-up and subsequently released reveal ‘a ghastly story of inhumanity, torture and degradation’.

In one statement, Mr James Magilton of Clowney Street, Belfast, a diabetic who had already suffered two minor strokes, says that when taken out in a Saracen, he was ‘savagely beaten by soldiers and military police with fists, batons, rifle butts and kicked’.

At Girdwood Barracks he was made to crawl on all fours into the corridor. ‘I was abused physically while I crawled. My hair was pulled’.

Mr Magilton said he was then placed against the wall with finger-tips only giving him support. ‘Military police kicked my shins and I fell flat on my face. He was later released.

Mr John Murphy of Clowney Street, Belfast said he was raced and dragged by soldiers for at least a mile through streets and parkland to a Jeep.

‘At one time they put me flat on the ground and made me do press-ups. At the Jeep I was photographed and given electric shocks. In the Jeep with Mr Magilton I was constantly beaten with batons …’

Mr Murphy said he was forced to sing ‘The Queen’. At Girdwood Barracks he was forced against the wall leaning on fingertips. He was kicked on the chest and fell on his face.

Mr Joseph Hughes of Butler Street said his door was smashed at 4 a.m.

His wife was butted in the stomach by a rifle and his sixteen year old daughter struck on the head with a baton. He was pulled onto the street by the hair, batoned and kicked.

The injuries I received were blisters on my heels and feet from forcible exercise over the obstacle course between Girdwood Barracks and Crumlin Road Prison.

One soldier of the Green Howards described all the detainees as ‘All the Pope’s bastards’.’

(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: AS REPORTS emerged of the brutal ill-treatment of many detainees, nationalist anger and resentment escalated.

The moderate Cardinal Conway reflected these feelings as plans were laid for a major programme of passive resistance towards a regime which had lost the consent of the NI minority.)

On This Day – 18th August 1971

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