On This Day / February 27, 1971
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19710227
Reference Date
19710227
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 27th February 1971, two RUC officers were shot dead in Belfast, Stormont welcomed a Cardinal Conway–Chichester-Clark meeting, and the RUC faced accusations of partisan conduct outside Belfast Police Court. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Two Policemen Shot Dead | On This Day – 27th February 1971
TWO policemen were shot dead in Belfast last night. Four others were injured, one seriously, when trouble flared again in several parts of the city.
The dead RUC men and three of the injured were shot at Alliance Avenue in the Ardoyne area during a gun battle in which two civilians are believed to have been shot by troops.
A policeman was shot in the leg in the Glen Road area but he is not believed to be seriously injured.
A seventh policeman was injured when a bomb exploded outside the RUC station in Ligoniel.
Cardinal-PM Meeting Welcomed
THE meeting between his Eminence Cardinal William Conway and the NI Premier, Mr Chichester-Clark at Stormont yesterday has been welcomed in political circles.
The meeting, which took place in the Prime Minister’s private room, lasted for nearly an hour.
A spokesman at Ara Coeli, the Cardinal’s residence, said that it was an informal discussion on community relations.
Mr William Craig, MP former Minister of Home Affairs, welcomed the meeting, saying: ‘I hope this is a meaningful recognition of the Constitution in Northern Ireland by the Catholic Church’.
RUC Accused of Partiality
A REPORT is to be sent to the British Home Office on what has been described as the ‘unprecedented partisan behaviour’ by members of the RUC outside the Belfast Police Court yesterday during a clash between rival factions.
Police arrested over forty people from a Catholic crowd after a confrontation with Paisleyites outside the Petty Sessions Court. The trouble began shortly after 10 a.m. when two women arrived outside the Courthouse with combat jackets which they placed beside a crowd of Catholics protesting about the appearance in court of four men who had attended the recent IRA funerals and their being charged with wearing uniforms in furtherance of a political object.
A crowd of Protestant women representing the Shankill Women’s Action Committee arrived on the scene. The police arrested the women who had carried the combat jackets. The Paisleyite crowd, which attracted a number of men, waved their Union Jacks and shouted at a number of women.
Uniformed women who appeared in the street were immediately seized by police. On one or two occasions the police did not arrest Protestants who struck at women being arrested.
Mr Brian Garrett, solicitor, who had talks with the Police Authority, said he had observed some of the incidents.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: These reports show clearly how the security situation in the North was rapidly spiralling out of control as the IRA’s steady escalation of violence was matched by naked sectarian confrontation and concerns that the RUC was not impartial despite the recent reforms.)
On This Day – 27th February 1971
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19710227
Reference Date
19710227
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 27th February 1971, two RUC officers were shot dead in Belfast, Stormont welcomed a Cardinal Conway–Chichester-Clark meeting, and the RUC faced accusations of partisan conduct outside Belfast Police Court. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Two Policemen Shot Dead | On This Day – 27th February 1971
TWO policemen were shot dead in Belfast last night. Four others were injured, one seriously, when trouble flared again in several parts of the city.
The dead RUC men and three of the injured were shot at Alliance Avenue in the Ardoyne area during a gun battle in which two civilians are believed to have been shot by troops.
A policeman was shot in the leg in the Glen Road area but he is not believed to be seriously injured.
A seventh policeman was injured when a bomb exploded outside the RUC station in Ligoniel.
Cardinal-PM Meeting Welcomed
THE meeting between his Eminence Cardinal William Conway and the NI Premier, Mr Chichester-Clark at Stormont yesterday has been welcomed in political circles.
The meeting, which took place in the Prime Minister’s private room, lasted for nearly an hour.
A spokesman at Ara Coeli, the Cardinal’s residence, said that it was an informal discussion on community relations.
Mr William Craig, MP former Minister of Home Affairs, welcomed the meeting, saying: ‘I hope this is a meaningful recognition of the Constitution in Northern Ireland by the Catholic Church’.
RUC Accused of Partiality
A REPORT is to be sent to the British Home Office on what has been described as the ‘unprecedented partisan behaviour’ by members of the RUC outside the Belfast Police Court yesterday during a clash between rival factions.
Police arrested over forty people from a Catholic crowd after a confrontation with Paisleyites outside the Petty Sessions Court. The trouble began shortly after 10 a.m. when two women arrived outside the Courthouse with combat jackets which they placed beside a crowd of Catholics protesting about the appearance in court of four men who had attended the recent IRA funerals and their being charged with wearing uniforms in furtherance of a political object.
A crowd of Protestant women representing the Shankill Women’s Action Committee arrived on the scene. The police arrested the women who had carried the combat jackets. The Paisleyite crowd, which attracted a number of men, waved their Union Jacks and shouted at a number of women.
Uniformed women who appeared in the street were immediately seized by police. On one or two occasions the police did not arrest Protestants who struck at women being arrested.
Mr Brian Garrett, solicitor, who had talks with the Police Authority, said he had observed some of the incidents.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: These reports show clearly how the security situation in the North was rapidly spiralling out of control as the IRA’s steady escalation of violence was matched by naked sectarian confrontation and concerns that the RUC was not impartial despite the recent reforms.)
On This Day – 27th February 1971
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19710227
Reference Date
February 27, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 27th February 1971, two RUC officers were shot dead in Belfast, Stormont welcomed a Cardinal Conway–Chichester-Clark meeting, and the RUC faced accusations of partisan conduct outside Belfast Police Court. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Two Policemen Shot Dead | On This Day – 27th February 1971
TWO policemen were shot dead in Belfast last night. Four others were injured, one seriously, when trouble flared again in several parts of the city.
The dead RUC men and three of the injured were shot at Alliance Avenue in the Ardoyne area during a gun battle in which two civilians are believed to have been shot by troops.
A policeman was shot in the leg in the Glen Road area but he is not believed to be seriously injured.
A seventh policeman was injured when a bomb exploded outside the RUC station in Ligoniel.
Cardinal-PM Meeting Welcomed
THE meeting between his Eminence Cardinal William Conway and the NI Premier, Mr Chichester-Clark at Stormont yesterday has been welcomed in political circles.
The meeting, which took place in the Prime Minister’s private room, lasted for nearly an hour.
A spokesman at Ara Coeli, the Cardinal’s residence, said that it was an informal discussion on community relations.
Mr William Craig, MP former Minister of Home Affairs, welcomed the meeting, saying: ‘I hope this is a meaningful recognition of the Constitution in Northern Ireland by the Catholic Church’.
RUC Accused of Partiality
A REPORT is to be sent to the British Home Office on what has been described as the ‘unprecedented partisan behaviour’ by members of the RUC outside the Belfast Police Court yesterday during a clash between rival factions.
Police arrested over forty people from a Catholic crowd after a confrontation with Paisleyites outside the Petty Sessions Court. The trouble began shortly after 10 a.m. when two women arrived outside the Courthouse with combat jackets which they placed beside a crowd of Catholics protesting about the appearance in court of four men who had attended the recent IRA funerals and their being charged with wearing uniforms in furtherance of a political object.
A crowd of Protestant women representing the Shankill Women’s Action Committee arrived on the scene. The police arrested the women who had carried the combat jackets. The Paisleyite crowd, which attracted a number of men, waved their Union Jacks and shouted at a number of women.
Uniformed women who appeared in the street were immediately seized by police. On one or two occasions the police did not arrest Protestants who struck at women being arrested.
Mr Brian Garrett, solicitor, who had talks with the Police Authority, said he had observed some of the incidents.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: These reports show clearly how the security situation in the North was rapidly spiralling out of control as the IRA’s steady escalation of violence was matched by naked sectarian confrontation and concerns that the RUC was not impartial despite the recent reforms.)
On This Day – 27th February 1971
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
On This Day is a daily column in the Irish News looking back either 50 or 100 years. The column was compiled by Dr Éamon Phoenix from the mid 1980s until autumn, 2022. The Foundation is very grateful to the Irish News for giving permission to reproduce Eamon’s columns. Funding gratefully received from Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the Magill Trust.
* The Foundation has worked hard to recreate Eamon’s distinctive voice through AI. Since this is an emerging technology, occasional imperfections may be audible.