Falls Curfew

A mural depicting the march that broke through the curfew

Date	3 July 1970 – 5 July 1970
Location	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Result	IRA weapons captured 4 civilians killed 337 people arrested

Belligerents

Official IRA

Provisional IRA

United Kingdom

British Army

Commanders and leaders

Jim Sullivan
Charles Hughes

Sir Ian Freeland

Strength

OIRA: 80 – 90 volunteers
PIRA: 11 volunteers

3,000 soldiers

Casualties and losses

uncertain

18 injured

4 civilians killed by British Army
60 civilians injured

United Kingdom

The Falls Curfew, also called the Battle of the Falls (or Lower Falls), was a British Army operation during 3–5 July 1970 in the Falls district of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The operation began as a search for weapons in the staunchly Irish nationalist district. As the search ended, local youths attacked the British soldiers with stones and petrol bombs and the soldiers responded with CS gas. This quickly developed into gun battles between British soldiers and the Irish Republican Army (IRA). After four hours of continuous clashes, the British commander sealed off the area, which comprised 3,000 homes, and imposed a curfew which would last for 36 hours. Thousands of British troops moved into the curfew zone and carried out house-to-house searches for weapons, while coming under intermittent attack from the IRA and rioters. The searches caused much destruction, and a large amount of CS gas was fired into the area. Many residents complained of suffering abuse at the hands of the soldiers. On 5 July, the curfew was brought to an end when thousands of women and children from Andersonstown marched into the curfew zone with food and groceries for the locals.

During the operation, four civilians were killed by the British Army, at least 78 people were wounded and 337 were arrested. Eighteen soldiers were also wounded. Large quantities of weapons and ammunition were captured. The British Army admitted afterwards that some of its soldiers had been involved in looting. The Falls Curfew was a turning point in the Troubles. It is seen as having turned many Catholics/Irish nationalists against the British Army and having boosted support for the IRA.

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Wikipedia