Bloody Sunday March committee announce programme of events ahead of 53rd anniversary

The Bloody Sunday March committee has announced its programme of events ahead of this weekend's 53rd anniversary.

Speaking ahead of the commemoration events, veteran campaigner Eamonn McCann said: "It’s 53 years since the death storm erupted at the bottom of Rossville St. It has blighted the Bogside down through the decades since.

"Bloody Sunday marches and anniversary activities of one sort and another now include children and even the grandchildren of those who fell under the fusillade of bullets from the parachute regiment. It’s been a long time.

"Every year we are asked – Why drag the agony out? Isn’t it time to forgive and forget? Some who are generous of heart may find it within themselves to forgive. But none of us should ever forget.

"As for the question of why we keep marching, the answer is simple. We haven’t reached our destination yet. So we’ll keep right on to the end of the road. What shining prize will we find there? Nothing material – but the greatest gift any of us can pass on to our children, and our grandchildren. The glittering truth, and the joy of justice, and the hard lessons we have learned. We cannot hug our grief to ourselves and in the meantime cast a cold eye on the agonies inflicted on much of the world around us.

"It was said from the Bloody Sunday platform a year ago that, “Palestine is the front line of the world.” And so it was and still is. Back in the 1950s, an Irish journalist working for the BBC, Erskine Childers, son of the Irish president of the same name, reported from Palestine, “If you go among them today, on the hills above Judea, they will point through the barbed wire and tell you, 'Look over there, that house beside those olive trees, that is my home'.

And so it was, and still is. And it is a shame in the face of the world all these years later that the Palestinian people must feel as far from home as ever. Childers was writing in the aftermath of what Palestinians call the Nakba, the disaster, when Zionist thugs, made from the same cloth as the Parachute Regiment, drove three quarters of a million Palestinian farmers and their families off their land and into limbo.

"Let’s be clear: the oppression endured here cannot be likened to the suffering of the Palestinian people.

"It is right and necessary that we should assemble every year to renew our pledge not to stop until the full truth about Bloody Sunday and the identities of those who procured it is brought into the open, to be presented to future generations. But we must never forget that in Palestine there’s a Bloody Sunday every day of the week. As we shout for truth and freedom, we must shout out also free free Palestine

"It is for these reasons that the banner of the Bloody Sunday March Committee is raised at every show of solidarity with Palestine. It’s for the same reason that the issue of Palestine will again be front-and-centre at the annual Bloody Sunday march on February 2nd."

Events Summary

Patches for Palestine
Monday 27th January - Sunday 2nd February,
Pilots Row.
Belfast-Palestine Solidarity Quilt. A work of art by the Irish community to show their support in amplifying the voices of Palestinians.

From Raytheon to Filton, Ending the Arms Trade
Wednesday 29th January 7.20pm-9.30pm Hive Studio Rathmor
The role of direct action and police responses
A panel discussion with Jackie McKenna & Goretti Horgan, two of the Raytheon activists whose occupation of the company in 2009 led to Raytheons withdrawal from the city. They will be joined by a parent of one of the Filton 18, Palestine Action protestors who are currently imprisoned after occupations of Elbit Systems. The event will be chaired by Amie Gallagher, community worker and activist

BSMC Fundraiser Gig 30th January 7pm Sandinos
TRAMP headline the gig featuring some of the best local talent, raising funds for the Bloody Sunday March Committee. £7 on the door

Who Fears To Speak
Launching Friday 31st January, Pilots Row, 6pm.
A photography exhibition, by Clodagh O'Leary, focusing on the experience of the young people from the Bogside and Creggan, exploring how Republicanism has shaped their lives and identity.


Panel Discussion: Zionist Free Derry
Sat 1st February 12.30pm Pilots Row
How can we continue to assist the people of Palestine and the international Boycott campaign at this time in creating a Zionist Free Derry?
A panel discussion with Lebanese Writer, trade unionist and activist Jade Sabb. Based in Edinburgh, who is involved in the campaign for a Zionist Free Leith,  Derry social justice activist, Catherine Hutton from Derry IPSC and Strabane community activist Tommy Barr, who is involved in the Strabane BDS movement.
This event will be chaired by Farrah Koutteineh who is a Palestinian writer, journalist and founder of @key48return.

Radical Question Time
Sat 1st February 3pm Pilots Row
Following on from the success of last years event, Radical Question Time returns for 2025 in Pilots Row.
Topical debate, where activists will join the panel, answering questions from the public on issues which affect them.
The event, chaired by a local journalist, will include panellists, Donegal councillor Frank McBreaty, Bloody Sunday family member and campaigner Liam Wray, lifelong political activist Eamonn McCann and leading Hillsborough justice campaigner Sheila Coleman.

Annual Bloody Sunday March for Justice
Sunday 2nd February 2.30pm Creggan Shops to Free Derry Corner
Key speakers:
Farrah Kouteinneh a Palestinian writer, journalist and founder of Key48Return