Ironically, O'Neill had been in France, commemorating those who had died at the Somme (the dead at that battle included both the old UVF members and Irish Volunteers) while this had been going on. He returned to Belfast and immediately made the UVF illegal.
This is how O'Neill described his position at that time:
"From one side came the extreme Repubicans, who sought to flaunt before our people the emblems of a cause which a majority of us abhor, and who once again refused to renounce violence as a political weapon. From the other side came those self-appointed and self-styled 'loyalists' who see modernisation as treason and decency as weakness."
In 1967 the RUC uncovered a plot by the UVF to assassinate O'Neill.
During these years it was made apparent that discrimination existed in the job market. Though mostly this was non-malicious in nature. The fact was that many businesses were family-run. Discrimination was thus not confined only to Roman Catholics. The attitude of larger 'Protestant firms' managers was that "I have no objections to employing a Catholic, but the workers would not stand for it." The way in which Roman Catholics lived had a lot to do with lack of opportunity too. This, and the fact that they were indeed a minority. For example, because of larger family size, Catholic kids would often go immmediately into unskilled jobs, instead of into higher education. Many of these socio-economic factors were not taken into account at the time of the Cameron Commission.
On Saturday the 5th of October 1968, NICRA had organised a demonstration in Derry. Unlike the previous demonstration in Dungannon on the 24th of August, NICRA for some reason ignored police advice on re-routing parts of the march to avoid friction. The demonstrators pushed through the police, who were taken unawares, and the whole thing resulted in rioting and looting of shops. Violence continued the following day.
The Cameron Commission claimed that there was a deliberate policy by the organisers of the demonstration, to bring about street violence.
NICRA held another march at the end of November in Armagh, to which Ian Paisley organised a counter-demonstration - many of his followers armed with cudgels. Again Paisley spent a period in prison for unlawful assembly.
The NICRA demonstrators had begun displaying Republican tricolours and attacking the police who were there for their safety. Thus NICRA started showing its true colours and agenda. Most Protestants had at this stage left the organisation.
The police were becoming increasingly less able and equipped to deal with the rioting and the job of protecting the demonstrators. It was pointed out that a demonstration in Northern Ireland of some 15,000 people was expected to be handled by about 180 policemen. This was compared to a similar demonstration in London of some 30,000 people, which had been controlled by 10,000 policemen. And yet, from other quarters, people were labelling Northern Ireland as a 'police state.'
For some unknown reason, the police forces of the mainland did not become involved. It is usually the case that, if extra manpower is needed in times of violence, other police forces are called upon to offer their assistance. This was never done in the case of street riots or violent demonstrations in Northern Ireland.
During the years of 1968 and 1969, a relatively small police force in Northern Ireland had to deal with wide-scale public disorder... the likes of which they had not had to deal with before. The Special Reserves were the only thing the police had to rely upon - but they were untrained in matters of crowd control, and a lot less disciplined than the full-time RUC.
Indeed, it seemed that the demonstrators were only too aware of the stretching of facilities that the RUC had undergone to try to contain rioting. The Scarman Tribunal, which specifically investigated the rioting and violent clashes at demonstrations, were quite happy with the restraint shown by the RUC.
"We are satisfied that the spread of the disturbances owed much to a deliberate decision of some minority groups to relieve police pressure on the rioters in Londonderry. Amongst these groups must be included NICRA, whose executive decided to organise demonstrators in the Province so as to prevent reinforcement of the police in Londonderry."
In August of 1969, the annual celebrations of the Relief of Derry was attacked at the end of the day. Republican militants had stockpiled large amounts of petrol bombs and missiles. The police were resisted when they tried to enter, and flags of the Republic of Ireland were flown.
The police continued to be attacked with viscious propaganda, as well as the petrol bombs. The Scarman report had this to say about the propaganda:
"The general case of a partisan force co-operating with Protestant mobs to attack Catholic people is devoid of substance, and we reject it utterly. We are satisfied that the great majority of the members of the RUC was concerned to do its duty, which, so far as concerned the disturbances, was to maintain order on the streets, using no more force than was reasonably necessary to suppress rioting and protect life and limb. Inevitably, however, this meant that confrontations and on occasions conflict with disorderly mobs. Moreover, since most of the rioting developed from action on the streets started by Catholic crowds, the RUC were more often than not facing Catholics who, as a result, came to feel that the police were always going for them, baton-charging them - never the 'others.' In fact the RUC faced and, if necessary, charged those who appeared to them to be challenging, defying or attacking them. We are satisfied that though they did not expect to be attacked by Protestants, they were ready to deal with them in the same way, if it became necessary. The Shankill riots of 2-4 August established beyond doubt the readiness of the police to do their duty against Protestant mobs when they were the disturbers of the public peace."
Simultaneously, rioting started in Dungannon, Coalisland, Dungiven, Newry, Armagh and Belfast. The violence in Belfast spread outward from the Falls area. Due to its close proximity, and the fear in the hearts of people on the Shankill, a counter-attack was made by loyalists which left whole streets in the Falls in flames.
Many unionists were becoming increasingly impatient at the seeming kid-gloves approach to the violence that the Orange Walks attracted. The injury caused to a young boy attending an Orange parade as it passed Unity Flats on the 12th of July 1969, later created a violent backlash.
Because of the threat of rioting spilling into adjacent areas, and the fact that people were totally lacking in confidence in the RUC's ability to contain the rioting, many people joined up with one or other of the paramilitary organisations in order to defend themselves.
But so vigorous was the counter-attack on the Falls, that Army reinforcements were finally called in - to protect the smaller-sized Roman Catholic enclaves from the larger non-Catholic surrounding areas. The date was the 16th of August, 1969.
[...]
In the mid-1970s, thousands of milk bottles began to disappear, having been stolen for use as petrol bombs. Old style parking meters were withdrawn because of the ease of use of the timing mechanisms. Restrictions were imposed on availibility of fertilizer and other chemicals which could be used easily to make bombs.
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