A night of violence in Belfast following the death of hunger striker Bobby Sands.
Belfast experiences a night of violent unrest following the death of Bobby Sands after sixty-six days on hunger strike.
The general policy adopted by both the RUC and the British Army during the nights disturbances seem to be one of preferring to contain the trouble rather than engage with the rioters at close quarters.
Vans and lorries were burnt out on the streets of the Falls and Springfield roads, Turf Lodge, Ballymurphy and Ardoyne. Youths throwing stones and petrol bombs clashed with British soldiers and police. A large temporary office building in the DeLorean car factory in Twinbrook near the Sands family home was set on fire and badly damaged.
The only report of the firing of live ammunition during the rioting is in the lower Falls area, where a 20-year-old man was shot in the leg by troops who were being petrol bombed.
By dawn, the Falls Road was the only road still blocked by barricades.
As the level of rioting calmed, security forces stopped and searched the drivers of cars that ventured out onto the roads. Among those stopped at a checkpoint was Kieran Nugent, the first Irish republican prisoner to go on the blanket in the Maze Prison.
By morning, it was generally agreed that people's worst fears about the consequences of Bobby Sands' death had not yet been realised.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 5 May 1981. The reporter is Cathal Mac Coille.
