Remembrance Day massacre

The Remembrance Day massacre was a Provisional IRA bombing in the County Fermanagh town of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. The bombing took place in November 1987 at the town's war memorial during Remembrance Sunday commemoration ceremonies for those killed during the First and Second World Wars. Eleven people were killed in the bombing, most of them civilians, and 63 were injured. Those murdered in the bombing were:

Related Topics:
Provisional IRA - County Fermanagh - Enniskillen - Northern Ireland - 1987 - Remembrance Sunday - First - Second

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• Bertha Armstrong
• Edward Armstrong (a 52 year old member of the Reserve RUC)
• Wesley Armstrong
• Samuel Gault
• Jessie Johnson
• Kitchener Johnson
• John Megaw
• Angus Mullen
• William Mullen
• Georgina Quinton
• Marie Wilson (a 20 year old nurse and daughter of Gordon Wilson)

The bombing led to a public outcry throughout Ireland north and south, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In the aftermath of the attack the IRA insisted that its leadership had not sanctioning the bombing. However politicians in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland dismissed the claim that it had not been sanctioned. The Fermanagh Brigade of that organisation was stood down after what was one of the most horrific and brutal attacks during Northern Ireland's Troubles.

Related Topics:
Ireland - United Kingdom - Troubles

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The Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Brian Lenihan, told Dáil Éireann

Related Topics:
Minister of Foreign Affairs - Brian Lenihan - Dáil Éireann

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:I am quite certain there is no Member of this House who does not share a profound sense of horror at this atrocity by the men of violence in Enniskillen last Sunday ? a sense of outrage and horror which is shared by all decent Irish men and women throughout the island and throughout the world. There can be no question but that those who planned and perpetrated this act did so in the clear knowledge that many civilians would be attending the ceremony and would be killed or maimed. We all recognise something obscene in the fact that this attack was planned and carried out on a day which many ordinary Irish men and women had gathered to commemorate those of their families and friends who had died in two World Wars. There is a long Irish tradition of respect for those paying tribute to our dead. This outrage is the latest and most horrific example of the pattern of violence of the IRA ? a pattern which shows clearly their contempt for the sanctity of human life and for a sense of human decency.{{ref|Dáil1}}

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The leader of the Workers Party, Tómas MacGiolla, told the Dáil that what had

Related Topics:
Workers Party - Tómas MacGiolla

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occurred was entirely consistent with the strategy that the Provisional IRA have been pursuing for the past 18 years ? sectarian warfare. The objective of this is to provoke an all-out civil war between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland.{{ref|Dáil2}}

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In Seanad Éireann Senator Maurice Manning told the House

Related Topics:
Seanad Éireann - Maurice Manning

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:In the long catalogue of horror over the past 17 years on this island, few events can have generated such total revulsion as the massacre of innocent, decent Irish people, gathered together to solemnly honour their dead in Enniskillen last Sunday. Our hearts and our prayers go out to the families and friends of those so shamefully slaughtered in the name of Irish unity.{{ref|Seanad1}}

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The bombing has come to be seen as a major tactical error by republicans. In killing people honouring their war dead the IRA created a backlash which was perceived to have undermined its claim to be a non-sectarian organisation defending nationalists.

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In 1997 Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams apologised for the bombing.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/25480.stm

Related Topics:
1997 - Sinn Féin - Gerry Adams

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Ronnie Hill, who had been in a coma since the bombing, died in December 2000.

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Remembrance Day massacre: Footnotes ►