A former lieutenant in the Parachute Regiment today rejected a suggestion paratroopers were sent to Derry on Bloody Sunday "simply to administer violence".
Mr Barry MacDonald QC, a lawyer acting for the families of many of those killed and injured on January 30th, 1972, put it to Soldier 026 that paratroopers were sent from Belfast to "sort out the situation in Derry".
Bur the officer, who has been granted anonymity, told the Saville Inquiry paratroopers were sent to the city to take part in an arrest operation.
Mr McDonald asked: "Was it not the case you were going there as members of the Parachute Battalion to sort out the situation in Derry?"
"I would deny that," replied Soldier 026.
Mr McDonald asked: "Were you there simply to administer violence to people?"
"Certainly not," replied the officer. "That was not our duty at all."
Mr McDonald asked: "What you were doing there was just to control the situation in some violent way and possibly arresting people if the opportunity arose?"
But the lieutenant insisted: "It was our job first and foremost not only as the reserve battalion, but to be prepared to deploy in any situation, but the primary aim was to be part of an arrest operation that afternoon."
Soldier 026 said he and his fellow paratroopers were aware IRA gunmen could use the civil rights march through Londonderry that day as cover.
However, he said they did not believe the risk was particularly high.
"We were used to what was going on in the province, we were well aware that at any stage we could be attacked by any member of the IRA, or indeed, as happened, by Protestant paramilitaries," he said.
"So we could have come attack from anyone at any stage and it was our job to protect against that."
Soldier 026 told the inquiry at Methodist Central Hall in London that he heard two distinct non-army weapons firing between 20 and 30 rounds in the nationalist Bogside area.
Although he could not see the two gunmen, he said he believed they were situated on the top of the city's Rossville flats.
The Saville inquiry, which usually sits at the Guildhall in Derry, is currently hearing evidence from military witnesses and others in London because of concerns for their safety.
Lord Saville of Newdigate and the Commonwealth judges accompanying him on the Bloody Sunday inquiry began their work nearly four years ago and are not expected to report back until late 2004.
The inquiry was established in 1998 by Prime Minister Tony Blair after a campaign by families of those killed and injured.
They felt that the Widgery Inquiry, held shortly after the shootings, did not find out the truth about what happened on Bloody Sunday.
PA