The city of Derry observed a minute's silence at 4.15pm today to mark the 30th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. The minute's silence was observed at the precise moment in 1972 when British paratroopers fired on a civil rights march, killing thirteen people. Fourteen other people were wounded, one of whom later died.
The Bogside fell silent as relatives of the dead, survivors and others who had taken part in the march gathered for the special commemoration. The civil rights march itself will be re-enacted on Sunday.
Speaking in Belfast, the Northern Secretary, John Reid, said that at some time people had to draw a line on the past, not by forgetting, but by using memories as a dynamo for a resolution that such events would never happen again.
