Brandon Lewis has apologised for the Ballymurphy shootings in a parliamentary statement today, but Boris Johnson faces mounting criticism for not maki.
UK Government ‘Truly Sorry’ for 1971 Belfast Killings
The British government is “truly sorry” for the events in west Belfast in 1971 in which 10 innocent people were killed, the UK’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis said on Thursday.
On Tuesday, a coroner found that the victims who were killed in Ballymurphy were “entirely innocent” and that the British soldiers’ use of lethal force was not justified.
In a statement to the House of Commons on Thursday, Lewis said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had “apologised unreservedly on behalf of the state” and was also writing personally to the families of the victims.
Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald has urged Boris Johnson to engage directly with the families of those killed in Ballymurphy 50 years ago.
A coroner earlier this week found that soldiers shot nine out of the 10, while the circumstances of the 10th death could not be determined.
Mrs Justice Keegan said all 10 were “entirely innocent” and the use of lethal force by the Army was not justified.
The families of the victims welcome the coroner’s ruling (Liam McBurney/PA)
The Prime Minister was criticised for a “third-party apology”, after Downing Street said he apologised over the deaths during a phone call with Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill on Wednesday.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has “apologised unreservedly on behalf of the UK government for the events that took place in Ballymurphy” on a call with Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill on Wednesday, newspaper
Irish Times has reported.
The UK PM’s apology came after the announcement of the Ballymurphy inquest verdict, that 10 civilians shot dead by the British Army in the largely Catholic area of Belfast in 1971 were all innocent, a Downing Street spokesman has said. The conclusions of the Ballymurphy inquest, were deeply sad and the events of August 1971 were tragic, he added.
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