1992 Coalisland riots

The 1992 Coalisland riots were a series of clashes on 12 and 17 May 1992 between local Irish nationalist civilians and British Army soldiers (of the Third Battalion of the Parachute Regiment[1] and the King's Own Scottish Borderers) in the town of Coalisland, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The Third Battalion 1992 tour's codename was "Operation Gypsy".[2]

1992 Coalisland riots
Part of the Troubles and Operation Banner
Confrontation between a British paratrooper and a local resident (May 1992)
Date	12 and 17 May 1992
Location	Coalisland, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland 54°32′23.92″N 6°42′01.82″W
Caused by	Provisional IRA attack on British army patrol near the village of Cappagh, County Tyrone
Resulted in	Parachute Regiment patrols in Northern Ireland cancelled before official tour's end Commanding officer of Northern Ireland's Third Brigade removed
Parties to the civil conflict
Coalisland residents British Army
Casualties and losses
3 hospitalised At least 4 others injured 2 soldiers hospitalised
Another soldier lost his legs during the previous IRA bomb attack at Cappagh

Provisional IRA attack

On 12 May 1992, a unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) East Tyrone Brigade launched a bomb attack on a British Army foot patrol near the republican stronghold of Cappagh, County Tyrone. One soldier of the Parachute Regiment, Alistair Hodgson,[3][4][5] lost both legs as a result. The improvised landmine was described in an IRA statement as an "anti-personnel device".[6] The incident triggered a rampage by members of the Parachute Regiment in the nearby, overwhelmingly Irish nationalist town of Coalisland, some ten miles to the east.[6][7][8] The IRA attack was described as a "provocation" tactic, devised to produce an over-reaction by troops to make them even more unpopular among local nationalists.[9]

The deployment of the paratroopers, which began in April[1][10] had already been criticised by republican activist and former Member of Parliament Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, who denounced beatings, shootings and damages to property reportedly carried out by the troops.[11] These previous incidents included the destruction of fishing boats and equipments in the townland of Kinturk, near Ardboe.[11] Unionist politician and Ulster Defence Regiment officer Ken Maginnis, then-Member of Parliament for the area, called for the withdrawal of the regiment after receiving a large number of complaints about their behaviour.[6][12]

The confrontation

12 May

Two hours after the IRA ambush at Cappagh, members of the regiment sealed off the town of Coalisland, ten miles east of Cappagh. According to a Social Democratic and Labour Party politician,[6] the soldiers fabricated a bogus bomb warning, while the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) stated that the operation began when a joint police/military patrol was stoned by a crowd.[6][13] Two pubs were ransacked by the troops[14] and a number of civilian cars were damaged. Several people were allegedly hit with sticks. Following this, a lieutenant was suspended from duty[6] and the regiment was removed from patrol duties in Coalisland.[15]

17 May

On the evening of 17 May, a fist-fight began at Lineside Road, where a group of young men were having a drink. A passing four-man patrol of the King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) regiment was challenged to a 'boxing match' by the residents.[11] The soldiers set aside their weapons and engaged the youths. Injuries were reported on both sides, none critical. The official claim was that the patrol was attacked by a mob[15] of at least 30 people.[16] In the melée, a rifle and a light machine gun were stolen. The rifle was later recovered nearby.[15] The youths smashed a backpack radio which had been left behind by the troops.[17] Two KOSB soldiers were hospitalised.[6]

The Parachute Regiment was called to the scene again, and at 8:30 PM, a major riot started outside The Rossmore pub[15] between local people and about 20 to 25 paratroopers.[11] The soldiers claimed one of their colleagues was isolated and dragged by the crowd. Some witnesses claimed paratroopers were in a frenzy, showing their guns and inviting civilians to try to take them. Suddenly, shots were fired by the troops —first into the air and then towards the people outside the pub. Three civilians were rushed to hospital in Dungannon with gunshot wounds, while the soldiers returned to their barracks.[15] Another four civilians suffered minor injuries.[14] The paratroopers claim that a "member of the growing crowd" attempted to fire the stolen machine gun at them, but the weapon jammed.[18] One of the wounded was the brother of IRA volunteer Kevin O'Donnell, who had been killed by the Special Air Service (SAS) in February during an ambush at the nearby hamlet of Clonoe, shortly after carrying out a machine-gun attack on the local RUC base.[17]

Aftermath

One of the roads to Coalisland centre, which was blocked by British paratroopers on 12 May 1992

About 500 people attended a protest rally in Coalisland on 19 May, and the wisdom of deploying the troops to patrol the town was questioned by members of the Dáil in Dublin. The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Ireland, David Andrews, asked the British Government to withdraw the regiment. As a result, the paratroopers were redeployed outside the urban areas.[19][20] The RUC claimed that the stolen machine gun was found 11 days later at a farmhouse near Cappagh, along with another light machine gun and an AK-47 rifle.[21] Author Steven Taylor claims that the stolen GPMG and other weaponry was recovered following an aborted IRA attack against a Wessex helicopter.[22] Republicans questioned whether the weapon had really been stolen, suggesting this was merely an excuse for the soldiers' rampage in Coalisland.[11][17] Bernardette McAliskey went even further, suggesting that the recovery of the machine gun near Cappagh, where the initial IRA attack had taken place, was actually staged by the security forces as a publicity stunt.[17] British officials accused Sinn Féin of being the instigators of the riots,[13] while Michael Mates, then Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office, stated that the incidents were due to "a gang of thugs motivated by the IRA".[23] Eventually the battalion's 1992 tour in Northern Ireland was scaled down, with the patrols suspended before the official end of the deployment. The Third Brigade's commander, Brigadier Tom Longland,[10] was replaced by Brigadier Jim Dutton.[14][20][24][25][26] This was the first occasion that a high-ranking officer was disciplined in such a way during the Troubles.[18]

The last patrol took place on 27 June, when two paratroopers drowned while crossing the River Blackwater.[27][28] The same day, there were further clashes with local residents, this time in the town of Cookstown.[29]

Six soldiers faced criminal charges for their roles in the May riots,[14][30] but were acquitted one year later. Five were bound over.[31] Maurice McHugh, the presiding magistrate, averred that the soldiers were "not entirely innocent", while Sinn Féin sources dubbed the ruling "a farce". Dungannon priest Father Denis Faul was of the opinion that the soldiers should have been charged with conspiracy.[8] The Ulster Television documentary Counterpoint of June 1993 claimed that Northern Ireland's Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Alisdair Fraser returned the case file to the RUC recommending no prosecution. The programme also interviewed Alistair Hodgson, the soldier maimed at Cappagh, who said that "had another member of my unit been injured in the way that I was, I would have been with the rest of the lads attacking the locals".[32] Authors Andrew Sanders and Ian S. Wood[18] suggested that the deployment of the battalion in Coalisland and elsewhere hindered the British policy of police primacy in Northern Ireland.[18]

See also

• Chronology of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions (1990-1999)
• 1997 Coalisland attack

Online references

• Photo of Coalisland residents demonstrating outside the local RUC barracks, 19 May 1992 (Suscription required)
• Photo of Northern Ireland GOC Lt Gen Sir John Wilsey visiting troops deployed outside Coalisland, 19 May 1992 (Suscription required)

Notes

1. The economist, Volume 323, Issues 7761-4
2. British Army 1945 on locations and dates
3. Alistair Hogdson profile, mirror.co.uk; accessed 3 December 2015.
4. Cumbrian amputee claims skydiving honour BBC News, 14 January 2010
5. Reynolds, David (1998). Paras: an illustrated history of Britain's airborne forces. Sutton, p. 197; ISBN 0750917237
6. The Irirsh Emigrant: "New Paratroop controversy", issue Nº 276, 18 May 1992. Archived 12 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, emigrant.ie.
7. "British troops launch charm attack in Belfast", by Peter Millership, Reuters, 8 August 1993.
8. McKittrick, David. "Coalisland 'soldiers not entirely innocent': Five paratroopers bound over by court", independent.co.uk, 18 May 1993; accessed 17 January 2015.
9. Drake, C.J.M. (1998). Terrorists' Target Selection. Palgrave Macmillan, p. 41; ISBN 0-312-21197-X
10. Irish America (1992), Irish Voice, Inc., volume 8
11. "British army terrorises Irish town", Greenleft.org, 1 July 1992.
12. Kennedy-Pipe, Caroline (1997). The origins of the present troubles in Northern Ireland. Longman, pg. 164; ISBN 0-582-10073-9
13. Wood, Ian S. (1994). Scotland and Ulster. Mercat Press, p. 161; ISBN 1-873644-19-1
14. CAIN −1992 chronology
15. Fortnight issues 302-12, Fortnight Publications, 1992, p. 6
16. Alsing-Børgesen, Kai (1993). The Lift: Basisbog for Hf Og Gymnasiet. Gyldendal Uddannelse, p. 134; ISBN 8700106984
17. McAliskey, Bernardette (1992). The Moral of Coalisland. Spare Rib (issues 231–39), p. 47
18. Sanders, Andrew (2012). Times of Troubles: Britain's War in Northern Ireland. Edinburgh University Press. p. 198. ISBN 0748646566.
19. The Irish Emigrant, "Paratroopers remain in North". Issue No. 277, 25 May 1992
20. Wood, Ian S. (1994). Scotland and Ulster. Mercat Press, p. 61; ISBN 1-873644-19-1
21. Fortnight, issues 302-12, Fortnight Publications, 1992, p. 24
22. Taylor, Steven (30 June 2018). Air War Northern Ireland: Britain's Air Arms and the 'Bandit Country' of South Armagh, Operation Banner 1969–2007. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-5267-2155-6.
23. House of Commons, Thursday, 21 May 1992
24. Brigadier Longland replaced by Brigadier Dutton, standard.co.uk; accessed 17 January 2015.
25. Bew, Paul (1999). Northern Ireland: a chronology of the troubles, 1968–1999. Gill & Macmillan, pg. 260; ISBN 0-7171-2926-8
26. McLeod, Alexander."British Take Paratroopers Off Ulster Security Detail", The Christian Science Monitor, 28 May 1992
27. Operation Banner Deaths: Roll of Honour Archived 30 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, operationbanner.com; accessed 17 January 2015.
28. Fortnight, issues 302-12, Fortnight Publications, 1992, pg. 22
29. CAIN – Listing of Programmes for the Year: 1992 – UTV news, 27 June 1992, cain.ulst.ac.uk; accessed 17 January 2015.
30. The Independent, 29 September 1992
31. Fortnight, Issues 324-34, Fortnight Publications, 1994
32. "Paras Who Shot Civilians Walk Free". Saoirse. Sinn Féin Poblachtach. 75. July 1993.