THE BLOODY SUNDAY INQUIRY: Oneof the Bloody Sunday paratroopers yesterday described the shootings 30 years ago as "unjustified".
The Saville Inquiry, sitting in London, listened to an unedited 90-minute interview which the paratrooper, identified only as 027, gave to Channel 4 in 1997.
The witness \ will be shielded and remain anonymous when he gives his live testimony today of the events which led to British paratroopers killing 13 unarmed men on a civil rights march in Derry on January 30th, 1972.
He said that his colleagues in 1 Para started firing "in a spontaneous way" after coming under attack, but added: "To my knowledge, there were certainly no orders to fire." His controversial account is strongly contested by other soldiers who were also on duty on Bloody Sunday.
He said: "The firing started in a spontaneous way, but Parachute soldiers are trained to use their initiative and act quickly and effectively when the situation demands it. Obviously, a number of soldiers felt that they were justified in what they did. I do not believe that to be the case. I think the shootings which I witnessed were unjustified."
He said that they opened fire after what appeared to be incoming rounds which, in retrospect, could have been shots from other army units on the Derry wall being mistaken or confused for IRA incoming fire.
The situation was "slightly chaotic", and 1 Para, whom he dubbed the "army's rottweilers", moved in to execute an efficient clear-up operation. "A number of fairly unfortunate, to say the least, decisions were made on the ground, which led to some shameful and disgraceful acts being perpetrated," he said. "I think that an acknowledgment that that's what happened is long overdue."
Soldier 027 joined the Parachute Regiment in 1971 when he was 19 and he was a radio operator in the regiment's anti-tank platoon on Bloody Sunday.
He told the interviewer that Bloody Sunday had been allowed to become a "festering sore", hampering ongoing efforts for peace, because the establishment had not acknowledged that mistakes had been made.
He had "little doubt" that IRA sympathisers or active members were present. In their role as a strike force, the Paras felt "entirely justified in what they did" to quell the crowd at an illegal march.
But, by "any normal or usual yardsticks or human standards, the methods employed to achieve that were beyond the pale and unacceptable," he told the interviewer.
Just before he had been due to give evidence at the Widgery Tribunal, the original investigation, "various changes" had been made to his statement, he alleged. He was left with the "impression \ the statement I gave was not acceptable to them - they had taken a particular line".
The hearing resumes today
- (PA)