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The Birmingham pub bombings, also known as the Birmingham bombings,〔(The Telegraph 21 Nov., 2014 )〕 were a series of bombings which occurred in public houses in Birmingham, England on 21 November, 1974. The explosions killed 21 people and injured 182 others.〔''The Birmingham Framework -Six Innocent Men Framed for the Birmingham Bombings''; Fr. Denis Faul and Fr. Raymond Murray (1976)〕 Although the Provisional Irish Republican Army have never officially admitted responsibility for the Birmingham pub bombings, a former senior officer of the organization confessed to their involvement in 2014, with an admission the Birmingham pub bombings "went against everything we (Provisional Irish Republican Army ) claimed to stand for".〔(''Birmingham Mail'' 9 Dec., 2014 )〕 Six Irishmen were arrested within hours of the blasts, and in 1975 sentenced to life imprisonment for the bombings. The men—who became known as the Birmingham Six—consistently maintained their innocence and insisted police had coerced them into signing false confessions through severe physical and psychological abuse. The convictions of the Birmingham Six were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory, and quashed by the Court of Appeal in 1991. The Birmingham pub bombings are seen as both one of the deadliest acts of the Troubles and the deadliest act of terrorism〔(Kentucky New Era 14 Mar., 1991 )〕〔(''The Prevention of Terrorism in British Law'' pp. 31-32 )〕 to occur in Great Britain between World War II and the 2005 London bombings. Moreover, the convictions of the Birmingham Six are seen as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British legal history. ==Background== (詳細はBritish government, via popular British opinion,〔''Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA'' p. 169〕 to concede to their demand to withdraw from Northern Ireland,〔O'Day, Alan. ''Political Violence in Northern Ireland'' p.20〕 and to maintain morale amongst their supporters.〔(BBC News 4 Mar., 2011 )〕 By 1974, mainland Britain saw an average of one attack—successful or otherwise—every three days.〔Gibson, Brian. ''The Birmingham Bombs''. 1976. p.50〕 These attacks included five explosions which had occurred in Birmingham on 14 July, one of which had occurred at the Rotunda.〔''Gibson''. p.49〕 Prior to any attack upon civilian targets, a code of conduct was followed in which the attacker or attackers would send an anonymous telephone warning to police, with the caller reciting a confidential code word known only to the IRA and to police, to indicate the authenticity of the threat.〔(''Birmingham Mail'' 21 November, 2011 )〕 On 14 November, James Patrick McDade, a 28-year-old U.K.-based member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, was killed in a premature explosion as he attempted to plant a bomb at a telephone exchange and postal sorting office in the city of Coventry.〔(''The Glasgow Herald'' 3 Nov., 1987 )〕 A second man, Raymond McLaughlin, was arrested near the scene of the explosion; he was charged with unlawfully killing McDade and causing an explosion. In response to the death of McDade, the republican movement in England had initially planned to bury McDade in Birmingham, with the funeral procession conducted with full paramilitary honours;〔''Lost Lives'' p. 494〕 however, these plans were altered in response to the British Home Secretary's insistence this proposed funeral, and any associated sympathy marches,〔(The Dispatch 22 Nov., 1974 )〕 would be prevented.〔''Lost Lives'' p. 494〕 Likewise, various councils within the West Midlands chose to ban any processions connected to the death of McDade under the Public Order Act 1936.〔("Processions" ); Hansard 10 Mar 1978〕 James McDade's body was driven to Birmingham Airport and flown to Ireland on the afternoon of 21 November 1974. Initially, his body had been scheduled to be flown to Belfast Airport; however, upon learning that staff at the airport had refused to handle the coffin,〔(ITNSource.com )〕 McDade's body was instead flown to Dublin. All police leave was cancelled on this date, with an extra 1,300 officers drafted into Birmingham to quell any unrest as the hearse carrying McDade's coffin was driven to the airport.〔(freelibrary.com )〕 (McDade's body was subsequently buried in Milltown Cemetery in his birth town of Belfast on 23 November.) According to a senior figure within the Provisional Irish Republican Army, tensions within the local (Birmingham) IRA unit were "running high" over the disrupted funeral arrangements for James McDade.〔 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「Birmingham pub bombings」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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