Page 104 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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78———Birmingham Pub Bombings

Tucker, J. B., ed. Toxic Terror: Assessing the Terrorist Use blast, 11 in the Talk of the Town, and 168 were injured
of Chemical and Biological Weapons. Cambridge, in the explosions.
MA: MIT Press, 2000. Following the bombings, anti-Irish sentiment
WuDunn, S., J. Miller, and W. J. Broad. “How Japan Germ ran high in Britain—especially in Birmingham, which
Terror Alerted the World.” New York Times, May 26, has a substantial Irish immigrant community. By
1998, A1, A10.
November 24, six Irish immigrants, all longtime
Birmingham residents, had been arrested and charged
with the bombings. Hugh Callaghan, Paddy Joe Hill,
BIRMINGHAM PUB BOMBINGS Gerry Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, Billy Power, and
Johnny Walker became known as the Birmingham Six.
In what was the largest mass-murder trial in British
The 1974 bombing of two pubs in the city of
Birmingham, England, thought to be the work of the history, the six men were convicted on August 5, 1975,
Irish Republican Army (IRA), killed 21 people. This and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1991, after a
attack caused more fatalities than any of the other long campaign on their behalf, a court overturned all six
attacks on English soil during the 30-year struggle. convictions, citing police mishandling of the evidence
Since the late 1960s, conflict had been raging in and indications that the confessions had been coerced.
Northern Ireland between the province’s Roman The Birmingham bombings also prompted the
Catholics, who wished Northern Ireland to become part British legislature to pass the Prevention of Terrorism
of the Republic of Ireland, and the province’s Prote- Act, a law that the home secretary described as “dra-
stants, who wished it to remain a part of the United conian.” For instance, the act allowed a suspect to be
Kingdom. Armed paramilitary groups that had sprung arrested and held for up to a week without charge and
up in both communities were prepared to use violence for persons suspected of being terrorists to be sum-
to protect themselves and achieve their ends. The marily expelled from Great Britain. Although intended
largest armed organization on the republican, or nation- as a temporary measure, the act, which was amended
alist, side (i.e., claiming to represent Catholics) was and in 1989 and 1996, is still in force.
is the IRA. By the start of 1974, the leaders of the IRA See also BOMBINGS AND BOMB SCARES; IRISH REPUBLICAN
had come to believe that the British were growing ARMY
weary of their involvement in the conflict, going so far
as to declare 1974 “The Year of Victory.” They felt that Further Reading
a serious escalation of violence would push the British
CAIN Web Service: Text of the Prevention of Terrorism
into withdrawal. Accordingly, the IRA began a series of (Temporary Provisions) Act 1974. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/
terrorist attacks on Britain’s mainland. hmso/pta1974.htm.
The IRA began its bombing campaign in February Cullen, Kevin. “British Release the Birmingham Six: After
1974, by planting a bomb on a bus in Yorkshire, 16 Years in Prison for IRA Bombings, Their Convictions
England, that was transporting soldiers and their Are Reversed.” Boston Globe, March 15, 1991.
families; 12 people were killed, including two young Holland, Jack. Hope Against History: The Course of Conflict
children. Other attacks, including one at the Tower of in Northern Ireland. New York: Henry Holt, 1996.
London, followed over the course of the year, killing McKittrick, David. Making Sense of the Troubles. Belfast:
Blackstaff, 2000.
six and injuring scores. On November 21, two men
O’Brien, Brendan. The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Fein.
hid a duffel bag containing a bomb at the Mulberry
2nd ed. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1999.
Bush, a popular pub in downtown Birmingham. They
Woffinden, Bob. Miscarriages of Justice. London: Hodder &
left the Mulberry Bush after a few minutes and walked
Stoughton, 1987. Excerpted on the Web at http://www.
to another nearby pub, Talk of the Town, where they innocent.org.uk/cases/birmingham6/.
left a second bomb. It was a Saturday night, and both
bars were crowded. At 8:11 P.M., a vague warning was
phoned in to the Birmingham Post and Mail offices; Black Liberation Army. See BOUDIN,
the bomb at the Mulberry Bush exploded six minutes KATHERINE; BLACK PANTHER PARTY; MAY 19
later, the Talk of the Town bomb a few minutes after
that. Ten people were killed in the Mulberry Bush COMMUNIST ORGANIZATION.