Lifford - Tear Gas Fired At Border 1971

Following disturbances at the border between Lifford and Strabane, local people say that British troops fired CS gas into County Donegal.

This particular stretch of the Lifford Road has already seen one casualty. On 22 November twenty four year old Bridget Carr from Fanad County Donegal but who was working in a hotel Lifford was shot and fatally injured while walking along the Lifford Road during an IRA (Irish Republican Army) attack on a British Army patrol.

Last night’s incident began when approximately fifty youths armed with pickaxes attempted to remove ramps on the road which had been placed there by the British Army.

Troops moved a group of youths who had come from Strabane over the border into the County Donegal side. During the incident an Ulster Bus travelling from Lifford to County Tyrone after a bingo session was hijacked and set on fire. Stones were thrown at the soldiers, who fired CS gas (also known as tear gas) and rubber bullets at the mob.

At least one CS gas cartridge landed at the foot of a customs man on the southern side of the border.

Gardaí estimate that forty to fifty cannisters of gas were fired that evening, resulting in the gas drifting over the low-lying areas of Lifford.

Local publican Michael Ronaghan was forced to close up early as the gas seeped through the pub door and windows. One member of his staff was overwhelmed when she breathed in the gas, and all inhabitants of the town were forced indoors for the rest of the night,

It was heavy and everyone was choking and tears running out of one’s eyes.

Report broadcast on 24 November 1971.