Father Edward Daly helping a mortally wounded victim of Bloody Sunday
"Bloody Sunday" was the nickname given to the massacre of 14 innocent Irish people by the British Army's 1 Para battalion on 30 January 1972 at the start of The Troubles. Members of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) decided to protest against Operation Demetrius, which allowed for suspected IRA members to be detained without charges, and many people moved to the "Free Derry Corner" after the British troops attempted to prevent them from entering the city. Some young men threw stones at the British troops, and the British were later kept on their toes by rumors of an IRA sniper being present in the crowd. The British troops switched from using rubber bullets to using live bullets, and they killed 14 people, wounding over 14 other people. The massacre led to increased support for the Provisional IRA both locally and across Northern Ireland, the island of Ireland itself, and even the rest of the world. However, the IRA would gradually lose support as its revenge attacks also harmed civilians.