Burning the Embassy.

national | history and heritage | opinion/analysis

Sunday February 05, 2006 15:21

by torch bearer

on the 2nd of February 1972, a group of between 20,000 and 30,000 angry people burnt the embassy of Her Britannic Majesty of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland.

The building used stand on Merrion Square opposite Leinster House. They had laid seige to the Diplomatic mission since January 31st 1972, and threw petrol bombs and stones.
In those days, the Gardaí had neither water cannon nor blunt trauma protection kevlar wear. And they were well worked.

Of course some think this incident best forgotten, and others as a "popular" reaction to the massacre known as "Bloody Sunday" on the Sunday previous (30/1/1972) which saw 14 people shot by the British armed forces in Derry.

Cartoonists both here in Ireland and over there in the UK recognised at once their vital rôle in society and were not found lacking. The British press of the time did its best & damned worst to promote racial, class, religious and other stereotypes, in the name of fair opinion.

The seige of the embassy began as the then President of Ireland, Eamon De Valera and the then taoiseach Jack Lynch had attended a national day of mourning, for which the state broadcaster RTé went off air for 4 hours.

Whilst they government and writers of the constitution of Éire observed silence outside the church an effigy of the then British prime minister Edward Heath and the Prime Minister of the Northern Ireland assembly at Stormont Brian Faulkner were burnt.

A great day out was had by all.

"Fuck you. Fuck yours. Fuck your State. Fuck your sensibilities.
Fuck your memory. Fuck your Church. Fuck your God. Fuck your economy. Fuck your children. Fuck your sensitivities."

The British government made a formal complaint to the Irish government and sued for compensation and damages. The Irish government had only 4 days before made a formal complaint about "Bloody Sunday" and we're still waiting on the truth.
The British used their compensation to buy two adjoining houses on Shrewsbury Road in Dublin 4, where their diplomatic legations to Ireland are to be gound to this day.

At the end of the ruck, everyone avoided singing John Lennon's "Imagine", coz though the prophet (PBUH) had written it the year before, the song described in his own words as "an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted." was still considered respectful by the Irish peoples who knew in their heart that he was on smack getting daily back rubs by Yoko Ono.

Because of this, the conflict didn't end there.

I apologise for the scarcity of detail, I make history not write it.
Please feel free to add details, personal observations or recollections and of course tippy toppy analytical comparisons to how Embassies get burnt in today's society.