Kate Nash recalls Kitson's 'bloody path to Belfast and Derry from Malaya and Kenya'

The sister of one of the men killed on Bloody Sunday in Derry has said Frank Kitson, who died this week will be "loathed and detested for decades to come",

Kate Nash, Chairperson of the Bloody Sunday March Committee, lost her brother Willie on January 30, 1972. Her father, Alex was also shot and seriously wounded. 

Ms Nash said General Frank Kitson, who initially led British army operations in the North, would be "loathed and detested for decades to come by decent people throughout what used to be called the British Empire".

She added: "In particular, his memory will be felt as a curse by many in the North, not least in Ballymurphy and the Bogside, where he presided over the massacres in September 1971 and in January 1972. He was also in command in September 1972 on the Shankill Road when two entirely innocent men were gunned down as they made their way home.

Former British Army General Frank Kitson dies at age of 97

British Army officer was in command of Parachute Regiment on Bloody Sunday

"But Kitson's influence for evil ran deeper and wider. He had trod a bloody path to Belfast and Derry from Malaya and Kenya, where he is remembered to this day with revulsion.

"In Malaya he developed the 'pseudo-gang' tactic, sending out British soldiers disguised as guerrillas to inflict atrocities on targeted groups so as to stir up hatred between communities. We know all about that from our own experience.

"In Kenya, thousands died and even more thousands were interned and tortured as Kitson sent the paras in to suppress the Land and Freedom Army - dubbed by the British as 'the Mau-Mau'. On the basis of these deployments, Kitson was commissioned by British military chiefs to write what has become the standard guide for dealing with disobedient natives – 'Low-Intensity Operations'," said Kate Nash.

She added: "The book provides a basis for the slaughter of innocents everywhere. Kitson would have been in his element in Gaza.

"Any time we are tempted to believe that there is justice in the world we should remember that Kitson lived a long life without ever seeing the inside of a prison cell, other than, perhaps, to inspect the blood and guts of his victims.

"The only regret that communities which have been on the receiving end of his attentions will have felt at news of his passing will be that it took so long.

"We will remember him in our own way as we assemble in Creggan for the 52nd annual Bloody Sunday March on January 28. We will sing a song of freedom as we walk down towards the site of the slaughter which he and his ilk brought upon Derry. We will enter Free Derry again, and we won't be leaving."