Belfast: The Falls Road Curfew - the raid on the Official IRA which turned west Belfast against British Army

On the 3rd of July 1970 the British Army sealed off the lower Falls.  A ‘curfew’ is announced. Troops go in, searching for IRA weapons. But the use of CS gas, houses being wrecked, looted even, turns the population against them. Four people died. The Official IRA decided to fight what they called ‘The Battle of the Falls’.  The army seized weapons but their standing in west Belfast had been completely changed. 

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by historian Brian Hanley, and by Belfast Telegraph columnist and author Malachi O’Doherty. 

This episode was originally published in July 2024. 

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