The Troubles in Derry

Photo by David Lansing

It’s the Fourth of July and here we are in Derry. Which seems appropriate. It was here, they say, that “The Troubles” in Ireland really began. I’ll save that discussion for another day. It’s enough, I think, to just show some shots I took of the murals in the historic Bogside neighborhood of Derry, site of the Battle of the Bogside (1969) and Bloody Sunday (1972).

The “You Are Now Entering Free Derry” sign was painted on a gable wall by a local activist, John “Caker” Casey, in January 1969 to commemorate this part of Derry as being a self-declared autonomous nationalist area. And it was here where the first street fighting broke out during the Battle of the Bogside in 1969.

More on all this next week.

Photo by David Lansing.