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The Balmoral Furniture Company bombing was a paramilitary attack that took place on 11 December 1971 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A bomb exploded without warning outside a furniture showroom on the Shankill Road in a predominantly unionist area, killing four civilians, two of them babies. It is widely believed that the bombing was carried out by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in retaliation for the bombing of McGurk's pub a week earlier, which killed 15 Catholic civilians. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) had carried out that bombing. The bombing happened on a Saturday when the Shankill was crowded with shoppers, creating bedlam in the area. Hundreds of people rushed to help British Army troops and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) rescue survivors trapped under the rubble of the devastated building. According to journalist Peter Taylor, the bomb site was "reminiscent of the London Blitz" during World War II. The attack provoked much anger in the tight-knit Ulster Protestant community and many men later cited the bombing as their reason for joining one of the two main Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisations: the illegal UVF or the then-legal Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Four such men were Tommy Lyttle, Michael Stone, Sammy Duddy, and Billy McQuiston. The bombing was one of the catalysts that sparked the series of tit-for-tat bombings and shootings by loyalists, republicans and the security forces that made the 1970s the bloodiest decade in the 30-year history of the Troubles.〔Taylor, pp.90-93〕 ==The bombing== At 12.25 p.m. on 11 December 1971, when the Shankill Road was packed with Saturday shoppers, a green car pulled up outside the Balmoral Furniture Company at the corner of Carlow Street and Shankill Road.〔 The shop was locally known as "Moffat's" although Balmoral Furniture Company was its official name.〔Henry McDonald & Jim Cusack, ''UDA - Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror'', Penguin Ireland, 2004, p. 8〕 One of the occupants got out, leaving a box containing a bomb on the step outside the front door. The person got back into the car and it sped away. The bomb exploded moments later, bringing down most of the building on top of those inside the shop and on passersby outside.〔(''The Troubles: A Chronology of the Northern Ireland Conflict'' magazine. Glenravel publications. Issue #8. pp.36-37, 51 ) Retrieved 27 January 2012〕 Four people were killed as a result of the massive blast, including two babies—Tracey Munn (2) and Colin Nichol (17 months)—who both died instantly when part of the wall crashed down upon the pram they were sharing.〔 Two employees working inside the shop were also killed: Hugh Bruce (70) and Harold King (29).〔 Unlike the other three victims, who were Protestant, King was a Catholic.〔CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths - 1971〕 Bruce, a former soldier and a Corps of Commissionaires member, was the shop's doorman and was nearest to the bomb when it exploded.〔McDonald & Cusack, ''UDA'', pp. 7-8〕 Nineteen people were injured in the bombing, including Tracey's mother.〔 The building, which was built in Victorian times, had load-bearing walls supporting upper floors on joists. It was thus unable to withstand the blast and so collapsed, adding to the devastation and injury count.〔McDonald & Cusack, ''UDA'', p. 7〕 The bombing caused bedlam in the crowded street. Hundreds of people rushed to the scene where they formed human chains to help the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) free those trapped beneath the rubble by digging with their bare hands. Peter Taylor described the scene as "reminiscent of the London Blitz" in World War II.〔Taylor, Peter (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p.90〕 One witness was Billy McQuiston, who had been walking down the Shankill with a friend when they heard the blast. Rushing to the scene, McQuiston later recounted what he saw and felt upon reaching the wrecked building: "Women were crying. Men were trying to dig out the rubble. Other men were hitting the walls. One person was crying beside you and the next person was shouting 'Bastards' and things like that. I didn't actually see the babies' bodies as they had them wrapped in sheets, but the blood was just coming right through them. They were just like lumps of meat, you know, small lumps of meat. All these emotions were going through you and you wanted to help. There were people shouting at the back, 'Let's get something done about this'. To be perfectly honest with you, I just stood there and cried, just totally and utterly numb. It wasn't until I got back home that I realised, this isn't a game. There's a war going on here. These people are trying to do us all in. They're trying to kill us all and they don't care who we are or what age we are. Because we're Protestants, they are going to kill us so we're going to have to do something here".〔 The angry crowd at the scene shared McQuiston's dismay and anger against the Provisional IRA, whom they automatically held responsible for the bombing. They also sought to retaliate against any Catholic they happened upon. A Protestant man nearby made a remark about the bombing, and someone who overheard it mistook the speaker for a Catholic and shouted out: "He's Catholic!". A mob of about one hundred men and women ran towards him and began kicking and punching him until he was left unconscious. It took the RUC and British troops half an hour to rescue him from his attackers.〔(''The Troubles: A Chronology of the Northern Ireland Conflict''. magazine. Glenravel publications. Issue #8. pp.36-37 ) Retrieved 27 January 2012〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1971 Balmoral Furniture Company bombing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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