>>
>>
>> Following 'crackdowns' on demonstrations by the nascent civil rights movement in 68/9 troops were sent
>> in to keep the peace. Initially that was seen in terms of protecting the minority
>> population.
>>
Exactly, and the army was initially welcomed by the Catholic population who stood by the roadside cheering as they arrived and were bringing them out cups of tea. But by it's very nature the army is an instrument of the state and in a civil disorder their aim is to protect the status quo. And the status quo in NI at that time was a corrupt and sectarian devolved Stormont government and a national government in Westminster who just wanted the whole business to go away. Whatever the excesses of the nationalists in NI (Matched by the Unionists with the RUC largely turning a blind eye and sometimes assisting) it was only the armed uprising that forced the UK government to start the process of resolving the situation.
It's easy to condemn violence from a distance, but if you were a red blooded black in SA or a Catholic one in NI during those times, what would YOU have done? Sat back and took more of the same for the rest of your life?
The world isn't divided into neat sections of black and white.
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