Barber bombing Benny was a paramilitary attack on October 31, 1972 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A unit of the Ulster Defense Association (UDA), a loyal paramilitary group, detonated a car bomb without warning outside a Catholic Benny Bar in the Sailortown dock area, killing two little girls celebrating Halloween outside. Twelve of the pub customers were also injured.
Video Benny's Bar bombing
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Since its founding in September 1971, the UDA has killed more than 30 Catholic civilians and attacked Catholic businesses. On September 13, 1972, UDA members burned in the Catholic Division's Castle Bar on Springfield Road, Belfast. A Catholic civilian, the owner's son, was killed. On October 5, a bomb was detonated in another Belfast pub, Capital Bar, killing a Protestant civilian.
On the evening of Tuesday 31 October 1972 at Sailortown (a diverse Protestant and Catholic community beside the Belfast Docks), a large group of local children dressed in fancy clothes were playing outside their home near a bonfire on Ship Street to celebrate Halloween. Two Catholic girls, Paula Strong (6) and Clare Hughes (4), both dressed as magicians, were approached by a white-haired man carrying a suitcase. He asks for directions to Benny's Bar. After one of the girls gave him a clue, he gave two pence and walked along Garmoyle Street to the intersection with Ship Street, where the pub was located. The girls then went to the pub, knocked on the door and asked for change for a traditional "trick-or-treat" form.
Explosion
The girls were all around the Catholic pub, which was full of customers, when a maroon-colored mini containing a 100-pound bomb exploded outside the walls of Ship Street in the parking lot. No warning given. Parts of the building collapsed into customers inside, injuring 12 people. Glass and flying stones are thrown out onto the road, instantly killing Paula Strong and wounding Clare Hughes. A local woman who discovered the bodies of the little girls described what she had seen: "They are like a collection of rags lying there".
The blast occurred only 20 yards (18 m) from a children's fire, and the bomb had a very short fuse. Houses and office buildings within a few hundred meters radius were damaged. The Strong family, living on nearby Marine Street, felt the impact of the explosion; Paula's sister, Tony says that there was a big explosion, the whole house shook and the picture fell off the wall. Paula's father, Gerry Strong, goes to the pub to help dig those buried under the rubble and find his daughter's body on the sidewalk outside. Clare Hughes's brother, Kevin, played near the fire when the bomb went off. Their house was on Ship Street, facing the fire, and their mother rushed to the scene and took Clare who was severely injured into the house. He died shortly afterwards in the hospital.
The attack was the first major bombing in Northern Ireland for two weeks. With a total of 479 deaths - including Bloody Sunday, Donegall Street, Springhill, Bloody Friday, and Claudy's cruelty - 1972 was the bloodiest year of the 30-year ethno-political conflict known as Troubles.
Maps Benny's Bar bombing
Aftermath
The burial of Paula Strong and Clare Hughes was performed at St. Catholic Chapel. Joseph in Sailortown; many mourners marched on the streets and accompanied the coffins as they were brought into the church. The girls are buried in Milltown Cemetery.
The bombing was carried out by a unit of the Ulster Defense Association (UDA), which is the largest loyalist paramilitary organization in Northern Ireland and legal at the time. Benny's Bar is targeted by UDA because it is believed to have become a hotbed of Irish republic. Three men who drove a carbomb to the pub pleaded guilty to the murder. It appeared during the trial that one of the bombers had worked with Paula Strong's father on the dock.
The UDA continues to attack pubs owned or frequented by members of the Catholic and Irish nationalist communities. Less than two months after the bombing, on December 20, the UDA launched an arms attack at a Catholic pub in Derry. The attack killed five Catholic civilians.
Benny's pub and houses on Ship Street have been destroyed, leaving a small section of the road near the still-existing Garmoyle Street junction. This is now an industrial zone. Ship Street and most of the Sailortown were destroyed to build the M2 freeway. There is a memorial plaque on the outside wall beneath the stained glass windows of St. Joseph's Chapel to commemorate Paula Strong and Clare Hughes.
See also
- The timeline of the Ulster Defense Association action
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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