View source for Burning of the British Embassy in Dublin

{{Short description|Property attack by Official IRA members in 1972}}
{{use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{use Hiberno-English|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox event
| title                    = Burning of the British Embassy
| time                     = 16:00–19:00
| timezone                 = [[Greenwich Mean Time|GMT]]
| date                     = {{start date|df=y|1972|02|02}}
| venue                    = 39 [[Merrion Square]]
| location                 = [[Dublin]], Ireland
| coordinates              = {{coord|53.33910|-6.24655|region:XXXX_type:event|display=inline,title}}
| reported injuries        = 30
}}
[[File:The British Embassy in Dublin the morning after the fire in 1972.jpg|thumb|The building pictured on the morning after the fire]]
The '''burning of the British Embassy''' '''in [[Dublin]]''' happened on 2 February 1972 at 39 [[Merrion Square]].<ref name="rte-archives-british-embassy-burnt-down">{{Cite web|url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/0201/849352-burning-the-british-embassy/|title=British Embassy Burnt Down|access-date=2022-02-02|website=[[RTÉ Libraries and Archives|RTÉ Archives]]|publisher=[[RTE]]}}</ref><ref name=it-esbs-merrion-square-period-portfolio-for-15-million-euro>{{Cite news|title=ESB's Merrion Square period portfolio for €15m|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/esb-s-merrion-square-period-portfolio-for-15m-1.4049929|last=Quinlan|first=Ronald|date=2019-10-16|access-date=2022-02-04|work=[[Irish Times]]}}</ref> This occurred during demonstrations outside the [[Chancery (diplomacy)|chancery]] by a very large and angry crowd (estimates vary between 20,000 and 100,000 people), following the [[Bloody Sunday (1972)|Bloody Sunday]] massacre in [[Derry]] on 30 January 1972, when the [[British Army]]'s [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]] shot dead 14 unarmed Catholic civilians during a civil rights demonstration.<ref>{{cite news|title=1972: British embassy in Dublin destroyed|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/2/newsid_2758000/2758163.stm|access-date=15 March 2015|website=BBC On This Day|date=2 February 1972}}</ref>
==Timeline==
===Sunday 30 January===
{{Main|Bloody Sunday (1972)}}
A protest against [[Operation Demetrius|internment without trial in Northern Ireland]], organised by the [[Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association]] on 30 January 1972, ended in a [[massacre]] by members of the [[1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment|first battalion]] of the [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]] of the [[British Army]].<ref name=rte-archives-british-embassy-burnt-down/><ref name=tj-the-burning-of-the-british-embassy-in-dublin>{{Cite news|title=An expression of anger: The burning of the British Embassy in Dublin after Bloody Sunday|url=https://www.thejournal.ie/british-embassy-burned-bloody-sunday-5665194-Feb2022/|last1=Burke|first1=Céimin|work=[[TheJournal.ie]]|last2=Daly|first2=Adam}}</ref><ref name=bn-dubliners-recall-burning-of-british-embassy>{{Cite news|title=Dubliners recall burning of British Embassy after Bloody Sunday|url=https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/dubliners-recall-burning-of-british-embassy-after-bloody-sunday-1250080.html|last=McGrath|first=Dominic|date=2022-01-28|access-date=2022-02-02|publisher=breakingnews.ie|agency=[[PA Media|PA]]}}</ref>
[[File:Merrion Square, Dublin - geograph.org.uk - 943551.jpg|thumb|Merrion Square, Dublin]]
A telephone conversation was held in the evening between [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Edward Heath]] and [[Taoiseach]] [[Jack Lynch]]. In the tense call, Heath never expressed any shock or horror at what had happened and told Lynch that the IRA were "bound to intervene" at the march and that the organizers of the demonstration carried a "heavy responsibility" for what happened.<ref>{{Cite news|date=4 July 2008|title=Saville Inquiry|language=en-GB|work=Belfast Telegraph|url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/imported/saville-inquiry-28160915.html|access-date=2022-02-02|issn=0307-1235}}</ref>
Lynch addressed the Irish public on national television, saying "The government is satisfied that British soldiers recklessly fired on unarmed civilians in Derry yesterday and that any denial of this continues and increases the provocation offered by present British policies both with the minority in Northern Ireland and to us here".<ref name="bn-dubliners-recall-burning-of-british-embassy" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Taoiseach Jack Lynch On Bloody Sunday|url=https://www.rte.ie//archives/2017/0130/848708-taoiseach-jack-lynch-on-bloody-sunday/|access-date=2022-02-02|website=RTÉ Archives|language=en}}</ref>
=== Monday 31 January ===
On Monday 31 January, angry protests began throughout Ireland, with some walk-outs from places of employment and boycotts of British services at Dublin airport and port.<ref name="bn-dubliners-recall-burning-of-british-embassy" /><ref name="tj-the-burning-of-the-british-embassy-in-dublin" /><ref name="rte-archives-british-embassy-burnt-down" />
The UK [[Home Secretary]], [[Reginald Maudling]], gave a statement in the [[House of Commons]] affirming, "A large number of trouble-makers refused to accept the instructions of the march stewards and attacked the Army with stones, bottles, steel bars and canisters of [[CS gas]]. The Army met this assault with two water cannons, CS, and rubber bullets only. The G.O.C. has further reported that when the Army advanced to make arrests among the trouble-makers they came under fire from a block of flats and other quarters. At this stage the members of the orderly, although illegal, march were no longer in the near vicinity. The Army returned the fire directed at them with aimed shots and inflicted a number of casualties on those who were attacking them with firearms and with bombs."<ref>{{Cite web|title=NORTHERN IRELAND (Hansard, 31 January 1972)|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1972/jan/31/northern-ireland|access-date=2022-02-02|website=api.parliament.uk}}</ref> Heath made no substantial comments, in or outside of parliament.
===Tuesday 1 February===
In the morning, Heath spoke in the House of Commons about the terms of the [[Widgery inquiry]]. He stated "I do not wish to comment now on the events of last Sunday" but later added "The security forces are under very strict orders. It is, of course, the responsibility of Her Majesty's Government, and of the Secretary of State for Defence in particular, to see that those orders are appropriate and are carried out."<ref>{{Cite web|title=NORTHERN IRELAND (TRIBUNAL OF INQUIRY) (Hansard, 1 February 1972)|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1972/feb/01/northern-ireland-tribunal-of-inquiry#S5CV0830P0_19720201_HOC_211|access-date=2022-02-02|website=api.parliament.uk}}</ref>
===Wednesday 2 February===
In the afternoon, a large protest march was held in the city centre, followed by a protest march towards the nearby chancery of the [[Embassy of the United Kingdom, Dublin|British Embassy]].<ref name="bn-dubliners-recall-burning-of-british-embassy" /> Then [[RTÉ]] security correspondent Tom McCaughren estimated there were eight to ten thousand people, in the confined space immediately outside the building<ref name="tj-the-burning-of-the-british-embassy-in-dublin" /> (estimates of the size of the earlier marches vary between 20,000 and 100,000).<ref>{{Cite web|title=CAIN: Events: Bloody Sunday - Chronology|url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/events/bsunday/chron.htm|access-date=2022-02-02|website=cain.ulster.ac.uk}}</ref> The large crowds outside, and in the vicinity, made it hard for the security forces, and later the fire brigade, to intervene.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Ó hÉallaithe|first=Donncha|date=July 2010|title=Domhnach na Fola, Doire Colmcille 1972|url=http://www.beo.ie/alt-domhnach-na-fola-doire-colmcille-1972.aspx|access-date=2022-02-02|website=Beo!|language=Irish}}</ref> Protesters carried black flags, [[Flag of Ireland|tricolours]] and placards condemning the British government.<ref name="tj-the-burning-of-the-british-embassy-in-dublin" /> Black coffins painted with "Bloody Sunday" and "13" were carried by the crowd and placed at the chancery door.<ref name="tj-the-burning-of-the-british-embassy-in-dublin" />
[[Garda Síochána|Gardaí]] tried at first to keep the protestors away from the chancery but were very largely outnumbered.<ref name="tj-the-burning-of-the-british-embassy-in-dublin" /> The press reported 30 injuries as the police charged at the crowds.<ref>{{Cite web|last=The Guardian|date=3 February 1972|title=British Embassy petrol bombed in Dublin|website=[[TheGuardian.com]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/03/bloody-sunday-dublin-british-embassy-archive-1972|access-date=2022-06-25}}</ref>
[[File:Film crew on Merrion Square, Dublin the morning after the burning of the British Embassy in Dublin.jpg|thumb|A film crew outside the embassy the morning after the fire]]
Embassy staff had been evacuated by the afternoon.<ref name=bn-dubliners-recall-burning-of-british-embassy/> Around 4 pm [[petrol bomb]]s began to be thrown, without much effect. Finally, a man climbed a neighbouring building, and then across to an upper floor of the chancery, setting it alight, with the interior fire underway by 7pm (and by which time night had fallen).<ref name=":0" /> [[Dublin Fire Brigade]] could not reach the chancery, and the building was gutted.<ref name=tj-the-burning-of-the-british-embassy-in-dublin/>
McCaughren felt the demonstration had been allowed to proceed as an "expression of anger".<ref name=tj-the-burning-of-the-british-embassy-in-dublin/>
A British insurance company's branch office in Dún Laoghaire was also destroyed. The Royal Air Force club was attacked and several other British-owned shops around the country were vandalised.<ref name="tj-the-burning-of-the-british-embassy-in-dublin" />
==Subsequent history of Merrion Square building==
The [[ESB Group|Electricity Supply Board]] bought the building in 1973 and then restored it.<ref name=it-esbs-merrion-square-period-portfolio-for-15-million-euro/> The row of houses 39-43 was offered for sale in 2019.<ref name=it-esbs-merrion-square-period-portfolio-for-15-million-euro/>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0HWN9oCEgI Scene at British Embassy after it is burnt to ground], featuring interview with British Ambassador [[John Peck (diplomat)|Sir John Peck]], [[Associated Press Archive|AP Archive]], 3 February 1972
{{History of Dublin}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:British Embassy in Dublin}}
[[Category:1972 crimes in the Republic of Ireland]]
[[Category:Attacks on diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom|Dublin 1972]]
[[Category:Ireland–United Kingdom relations]]
[[Category:Riots and civil disorder in Ireland]]
[[Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in 1972]]
[[Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in the Republic of Ireland]]
[[Category:1972 riots]]
[[Category:1972 in international relations]]
[[Category:Arson in Ireland]]
[[Category:Arson in 1972]]
[[Category:1970s fires in Europe]]
[[Category:The Troubles in Dublin]]
[[Category:1970s in Dublin (city)]]
[[Category:February 1972 events in Europe]]