THE BLOODY SUNDAY INQUIRY/Day 220: A former Free Presbyterian minister in Derry told the inquiry yesterday he did not recall issuing a press statement predicting that "wholesale riot and bloodshed" could result from the Civil Rights march planned for January 30th, 1972.
Mr James McClelland also said he had no recollection of the Democratic Unionist Party in Derry, of which he was then vice-chairman, organising a counter-demonstration but calling it off on the day before Bloody Sunday.
Mr McClelland, who resigned from the Free Presbyterian Church in 1985 and is now a freelance media producer, was questioned about a newspaper report at the time which quoted him as saying on behalf of the local Democratic Unionist Association, which was part of the DUP: "We were approached by the government and given assurances that the civil rights march will be halted by force if necessary."
The report was published in the now defunct Sunday News on January 30th, 1972, and it also quoted Mr McClelland as saying on the previous day: "We believe wholesale riot and bloodshed could be the result of the Civil Rights activities tomorrow and we would be held responsible if our rally takes place. We have also appealed to all Loyalists to stay out of the city centre tomorrow."
Mr McClelland said he could not remember making such a statement, and he had never had contact with the government or security forces about any march.
Mr Arthur Harvey QC, for a number of victims' families, put it to him: "It is a fairly prophetic statement, as it turned out?" and the witness replied: "It certainly is".
Mr McClelland, who said he has been out of politics for almost 30 years, told the inquiry he had only one distinct memory that might be related to the issue of the proposed counter-demonstration on Bloody Sunday.
He had received a telephone call between 1971 and 1974 from Mr Desmond Boal QC, who at the time was on the DUP Executive, in relation to a proposed DUA protest. Mr Boal had persuaded him the protest should not go ahead, saying, in effect; "We do not need this kind of brinkmanship at this time."
The witness also said that if any DUA counter-demonstration was being organised, he assumed the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, would have known about it or been involved.
Another witness, Mr John Radcliffe, told the inquiry that he was among the crowd gathered around the speakers' platform at Free Derry Corner in the Bogside when he first heard shots on Bloody Sunday.
He was sure that these three or four shots came from the City Walls, although when he looked up he could not see soldiers there.
The inquiry adjourned until Monday, when it will hear legal applications on behalf of a number of prominent figures to be permitted to give evidence in London.
The former British Prime Minister, Sir Edward Heath, and former Foreign Minister, Lord Carrington, are among those who claim that their lives could be put at risk if they have to travel to Derry.