Unit 2 Topic 2: The campaign for civil rights

• NICRA


  Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
• NICRA formed


  1967
• NICRA formed


  Inspired by US civil rights movement and Martin Luther King's use of non-violent methods
• NICRA's aims


  • End gerrymandering
  • Ensure fair distribution of housing
  • Prevent discrimination in housing and jobs
  • Remove the Special Powers Act and the B Specials
• Supporters of NICRA


  • New generation of more educated Catholic middle class
  • Some open-minded liberal Protestants
  • Some trade unionists and community activists
• NICRA tactics


  1. Peaceful protest marches

  2. Squatting in houses to highlight discrimination

  3. Organising alternative rallies when marches were banned
• The first NICRA march took place on 24th August 1968 between Coalisland and Dungannon in Co. Tyrone
• The second NICRA march took place on 5th October 1968 in Derry, marching from the Waterside to the Craigavon Bridge
• The march in Derry was accompanied by powerful figures like Gerry Fitt and the RTE camera recorded the heavy-handed tactics of the police to break up the march, showing the world that NI was on the verge of crisis
• The 5 point programme demanded by NICRA


  • Fair allocation of council housing
  • One person one vote in local government
  • Removal of the Special Powers Act
  • Extra votes for business owners removed
  • Appointment of an ombudsman to investigate complaints
• Unionists became annoyed at O'Neill's reforms

  Believed he was only doing it because the British PM told him to
• NICRA condemned the People's Democracy march from Belfast to Derry in January 1969, claiming it would worsen the situation</b>
• The People's Democracy march was attacked by a loyalist mob at Burntollet Bridge, with the police doing little to stop the violence
• In response to the violence, NICRA began marching again, with the first march held in Newry resulting in more violence
• In response, O'Neill announced a commission led by Lord Cameron to investigate the causes of the violence and civil disturbances
• O'Neill called an election in NI, the Crossroads election, in an attempt to show he had support from the unionist community
• The UUP's share of the vote decreased by over 10% in the Crossroads election, and O'Neill nearly lost his own seat
• Following O'Neill's resignation, the UUP elected Major John Chichester-Clark as their new leader, who promised to continue with the reforms started by O'Neill
• NICRA


  A non-sectarian movement that did not seek to end partition, but hoped to end serious abuses in the existing political system
• Aims of NICRA


  1. Achieve 'one man, one vote'

  2. Ensure the fair allocation of council houses

  3. End gerrymandering

  4. Prevent discrimination in the allocation of government jobs

  5. Remove the operation of the Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act, 1922

  6. Disband the B Specials

  7. Establish a formal complaints procedure against local authorities
• Being able to vote in council elections depended on being a ratepayer (householder), which meant fewer Catholics could vote
• In Derry/Londonderry in 1966, the unionist-dominated council ruled over a Catholic population of 20,102 compared with a Protestant population of 10,274
• The Cameron Commission found widespread evidence of favouritism towards Protestants in the allocation of government jobs
• The Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act, 1922 allowed the government to arrest and detain people without trial
• The B Specials were a paramilitary police force
• NICRA


  Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
• Groups that supported NICRA

  • New generation of Catholics
  • Liberal Protestants
  • Communists
  • Academics
  • Trade unionists
• Support for NICRA


  • Came from across the community
  • Particularly from a new generation of Catholics, the first to have benefited from free education in the late 1940s
  • They had seen the growing self-confidence of Catholics elsewhere, not least in the USA where John .F Kennedy had been elected President in 1960
  • They were also unhappy with their own Nationalist Party, led by Eddie McAteer, as its only policy seemed to be the ending of partition
• Liberal Protestants


  • Sympathised with some of NICRA's demands
  • Believed that making Northern Ireland fairer would undermine demands for a united Ireland
• Reasons for suspicion about NICRA from within the unionist population


  • Felt it was simply intent on causing trouble and was just a front for the IRA
  • Believed it was only interested in Catholic rights (rather than rights for all) and would undermine the position of Protestants
  • Thought that NICRA wanted a united Ireland, thus threatening the continued existence of Northern Ireland
• The Five-Point Reform Programme


  1. Allocation of council housing on a points system

  2. Replacement of Londonderry Corporation by a Development Commission

  3. Removal of parts of the Special Powers Act

  4. Reforms within local government, including the ending of extra votes for business owners

  5. Appointment of an ombudsman
• O'Neill, Faulkner and Craig were summoned to Westminster to meet the British Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson


  4 November
• Announcement of the reform programme

  2 November
• The reform programme was to be in place by the end of 1971
• Ambush at Burntollet


  The marchers were the target of a violent ambush at Burntollet Bridge, an attack that the police seemed to do little to deflect
• NICRA's response to O'Neill's reforms


  1. Marches called off

  2. Believing nothing had changed, marches started again
• People's Democracy


  A group that had emerged out of anger at the violence NICRA had faced and the desire to disrupt the Stormont administration
• The condemnations were ignored and the demonstration began on schedule
• The first march was held in Newry and again violence resulted
• Much of the march was to go through Protestant areas, forcing the police to enforce different routes to avoid confrontation