Hundreds made their way to the Bloody Sunday Monument for the annual memorial service and wreath-laying ceremony, carrying pictures of the victims and flowers in their memory.
ADVERTISEMENTRelatives of those killed and injured on Bloody Sunday marched in Northern Ireland to mark 50 years since one of the deadliest days in the conflict known as "The Troubles".
Bloody Sunday, or the Bogside Massacre, saw a total of fourteen people killed and 12 others injured when British soldiers fired on civil rights protesters on 30 January 1972 in the city of Derry, also known as Londonderry.
Hundreds made their way to the Bloody Sunday Monument for the annual memorial service, where Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin laid a wreath.
The names of those who were killed and wounded were read out during the 45-minute ceremony.
Britain’s government apologised in 2010 after an official inquiry, known as the Saville Report, found that the soldiers fired without justification on unarmed, fleeing civilians and then lied about it for decades.
The report refuted an initial investigation that took place soon after the slayings that said the soldiers had been defending themselves against Irish Republican Army bombers and gunmen.
One former British soldier was charged in 2019 in the killing of two of the protesters and the injury of four others, but the case was discontinued.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament on Wednesday that Bloody Sunday was “one of the darkest days in our history” and that the country “must learn from the past”.
Irish President Michael D. Higgins also delivered a speech to affected families later on Sunday.