There were no street parties or victory cavalcades in Derry last night to celebrate the new inquiry into the events of January 30th, 1972. Instead, a cautious optimism filled the Bogside.
"We hope this might be the beginning of the end," said Mr Gerry Duddy, whose brother Jackie (17) was one of the victims. "Derry lost 14 of its finest. We always knew they were innocent. Now it's time for the world to know."
Mr Duddy said he was often asked why he had campaigned for his brother for so many years. "I was at the march with Jackie, but before the shooting we went off in different directions. He was unlucky. He went the wrong way. It could easily have been me shot. I know had I been killed, he would have worked tirelessly for me."
Most of the relatives went to a community centre in the Bogside to watch Mr Blair's announcement on television yesterday afternoon. Betty Walker, however, was at home for the news. Her brother, Michael McDaid (20), was another of the victims. "I watched the announcement at home with my 24-year-old son, who wasn't even born on Bloody Sunday. "I hope it will be a turning point after all these years but I'm still a bit cautious. I'm worried about the make-up of the tribunal. I don't trust the English judging the English. I'm afraid of another whitewash. But I don't want to be rash - I'll wait and see."
Mr Liam Wray, whose brother Jim (22) was shot dead, said it was not that the families wanted to reopen old wounds. "The wounds have never healed in the first place. I hope this inquiry will take the stain away from the names of our innocent relatives. They did nothing wrong. It was the state which was guilty."
The Wray family were offered £750 compensation - "that was how much they valued Jim's life".
He said that memories of the day are still raw. "I remember everything - the Paras and the B-Specials sniggering in the hospital; the nurses and doctors with their clothes drenched in blood; Jim lying in the morgue, his body so cold and empty."
He hoped that the new inquiry would finally establish the truth about Bloody Sunday. "The relatives are determined not to have the wool pulled over their eyes. I applaud Tony Blair for his decision. I don't think unionists have any reason to be angry. The resolution of this matter threatens no one. It is a human rights issue."