Agreement 25: First Major Clash of the Troubles Captured in Dramatic Report (1969)

On 12 August 1998, ITN's Keith Hatfield reported on communal riots which had broken out in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland. The riots lasted three days in total and became known as the Battle of the Bogside. The violence in Derry between 12–14 August sparked communal clashes elsewhere in Northern Ireland, and led to the deployment of the British Army to the country months later.

The Battle of Bogside is often cited as the start of the 30-year conflict known as The Troubles. Beginning in Northern Ireland and spreading to the British mainland, the decades of inter-communal violence would touch the lives of successive generations across Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland before being brought to an end with the signing of the Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement) on 10 April 1998.

Hatfield's report of 12 August 1969 is one of the most dramatic and informative pieces of field reporting contained in the ITN Archive, accurately capturing the unfolding of events and the escalation of violence. Also seen in this report is the newly-elected 22-year-old MP for Mid-Ulster, Bernadette Devlin, arguing with rioters to allow women and children to leave the area. She was, until 2015, the youngest person to have been elected to Parliament.

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