Ex-soldier arrested in Northern Ireland’s 1972 ‘Bloody Sunday’ massacre

More than 40 years after British soldiers shot to death 14 unarmed protesters in Northern Ireland, an arrest was made Tuesday in the infamous massacre known as Bloody Sunday.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland confirmed the arrest of a 66-year-old man from County Antrim, the first since a murder inquiry was launched three years ago.

The suspect, whose name was not released, was taken to a police station in Belfast for questioning.

British news reports identified the man as a former lance corporal in the British Parachute Regiment, a unit long hated by Catholic nationalists for its role in Northern Ireland’s “Troubles.” He was believed to have been involved in three of the 13 deaths in Londonderry on Jan. 30, 1972. One more victim died in hospital months later.

The events that day marked a turning point in the 30-year conflict over the status of Northern Ireland, radicalizing Catholic republican activists and ratcheting up the level of sectarian violence in the British territory. The Troubles would claim more than 3,000 lives before the Good Friday peace agreement was reached in 1998.

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A British soldier drags a protester during a march, later known as “Bloody Sunday,” in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

  (Thopson / AFP/Getty Images)

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A British paratrooper takes a youth into custody on “Bloody Sunday,” when the British military opened fire on marchers in Northern Ireland in 1972.

  (Getty Images / Getty Images)

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Mourners attend a funeral for the 13 people killed on “Bloody Sunday” in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Another victim died months later.

  (AFP/Getty Images)

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Coffins of 13 civilians shot dead by British forces on “Bloody Sunday” are lined up for the funeral at St. Mary’s church in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

  (M. Stroud / Getty Images)

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A memorial in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, bears the names of the 13 people killed during the “Bloody Sunday” massacre on Jan. 30, 1972, and another victim who died later of injuries sustained that day.

  (Peter Muhly / AFP/Getty Images)

Prime Minister David Cameron apologized for the Bloody Sunday massacre after an official investigation concluded in 2010 that the demonstrators had posed no threat and that their deaths were unjustified.

The report, which took 12 years and cost $280 million to complete, overturned a government inquiry conducted immediately after the shootings that had alleged the victims were armed with guns and homemade bombs. The new investigation found that soldiers opened fire without warning or provocation, shot people who were clearly fleeing or trying to reach injured protesters, and later lied about the incident to investigators.

In 2012, the Police Service of Northern Ireland began to investigate the killings. The officer leading the inquiry, Detective Chief Inspector Ian Harrison, said Tuesday’s arrest marked a “new phase in the overall investigation” that could “continue for some time.” He did not elaborate.

News of the arrest was welcomed by victims’ families who have long pressed for perpetrators to be brought to justice.

Kate Nash told reporters that she had received a call Tuesday from a police liaison officer about the former soldier, who she was told was being questioned about the deaths of her 19-year-old brother, William, and two others, Michael McDaid, 20, and John Young, 17.

“I started to shake. I couldn’t believe it. I became very emotional,” she said, according to the BBC.

“To see a soldier even being questioned has truly shocked me. I never thought it would get to this. There is a flicker of hope. It’s a very positive step.”

Others, however, have complained that it is unfair to focus on a single event in which Catholic protesters died, to the exclusion of other violent deaths, including those of Protestant loyalists and British soldiers.

“It remains to be seen whether the current investigations will focus solely on the actions of soldiers on that day, or whether progress will be made on arresting others who were engaged in illegal terrorist activity at the same time,” said Gregory Campbell, a member of Parliament from the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, according to the Belfast Telegraph.

The arrest was made by a special police team set up to reinvestigate unsolved cases. The so-called Legacy Investigation Branch replaced a team that was criticized by a police watchdog for treating killings involving the state with “less rigor” than other cases.

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