Belfast Killings – 31st May
Introduction from Chronology
Two Ulster Special Constables were shot by the small anti-Treaty
IRA in Belfast in the Millfield area of Belfast and both (S/Constable Andrew
Roulston and S/Constable William Campbell) later died of their wounds.
This results in a large attack by Specials on Catholic areas of
Belfast, especially Peter’s Place and Boyd St., which resulted in nine deaths
(all Catholics except for a blind Protestant man who was lodging in a Catholic
house) and over 80 Catholic families were left homeless in one night.
More Detail
Phoenix says 10 civilians were killed out whom 8 were Catholics.
Parkinson gives the date as May 30th and says that it was “an angry
loyalist mob” rather than a mob of Specials who did the attacking.
However, the only two people that Parkinson says were killed by the mob
were Jane Doran and John Hughes. (Hughes was the blind Protestant and the
only Protestant living on the street “a fact probably unknown to the vengeful
mob”.)
He also says that Patrick McGurk (34) and George Megahey (17) were shot
by Specials in an exchange of gunfire between police and the
IRA. He also says that William O’Hara (25) and Hugh Kennedy
(26) were shot by Specials in the Falls area. Parkinson also mentions
that a Catholic, Robert Monaghan (20) was shot dead on his way to work in
the morning.