Resident British army battalions and commanders in Derry were deliberately sidelined by Gen Robert Ford, who decided to use the 1st Parachute Regiment on Bloody Sunday to teach the local rioters a lesson, it was alleged yesterday.
Mr Arthur Harvey QC asserted at the inquiry in Derry that Gen Ford, who was commander of land forces, Northern Ireland, had seized the opportunity presented by the impending civil rights march to implement his hardline views on what needed to be done in the city.
Mr Harvey, on behalf of the main group of Bloody Sunday wounded and next-of-kin of victims, said Gen Ford did not normally have the power to interfere in the area of operations of the resident 8th Brigade and its commander, Brig A.P. MacLellan.
He did not have the power to actually direct the battalions to be deflected to Derry. The only way he could do that was if there was an operation already being conducted in the city which had the approval of his superior officer, the GOC Northern Ireland, Gen Harry Tuzo.
Mr Harvey submitted that Gen Ford saw there was a brigade operation pending in relation to the march planned for January 30th, 1972. "He had one opportunity to go down and teach the Derry rioters a lesson, and not only the Derry rioters but the population of Derry . . . and that was through the use of the Parachute Regiment," he said.
Counsel noted that Gen Ford had recorded in a memorandum before Bloody Sunday: "I am coming to the conclusion that the minimum force necessary to achieve a restoration of law and order is to shoot selected ringleaders amongst the DYH (Derry Young Hooligans), after clear warnings have been issued."
Mr Harvey commented: "That is quite simply the contemplation of a murderous exercise to be carried out contrary to all known law within the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom in the absence of a declaration of military law . . ."
Counsel linked Gen Ford's initiative to a meeting he attended in Derry on January 7th, 1972, with members of the Derry Strand Traders' Association there. The general had not seemed to be disturbed, said counsel, by the concept he recorded as having been advanced at that meeting, that a military curfew should be imposed and that rioters should be shot on sight.