11 AUGUST
MAN DIES OF HEART ATTACK AFTER BRITISH SOLDIERS SUBJECT HIM TO A MOCK EXECUTION.
[ 11 August 1971 ]
On this day in 1971, three civilians in West Belfast were killed by soldiers of the first battalion of the British Parachute Regiment, during a round up of men under emergency powers of detainment which were not applied to loyalist suspects. A force of 600 soldiers had been ordered to search the Ballymurphy estate house by house, kicking in or shooting down doors and dragging men from their beds.
Two men, John Laverty, 20 years and Joseph Corr, 43 years, were fatally injured by live fire in Whitecliff Parade and Paddy McCarthy, a 44 year old community worker, died of a heart attack after soldiers subjected him to a mock execution.[1]
FOOTNOTES
- Sofia Petkar, “Troubles Tragedy: What happened in the Ballymurphy Massacre of 1971 and how many people were killed in Belfast’s Bloody Sunday,” the Sun, 8 September 2018.