284:. Commenting on this, Groves said, "When you start killing the children, you inflict the deepest wound of all on a country." With other members of the United Campaign she spoke of her experience at public meetings throughout Ireland. They then decided to take their campaign abroad. They were invited to the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Italy, Sweden and Germany. Groves went to the US twice. The campaign then discovered that a Scottish factory, the Bronx Fireworks Company, was manufacturing plastic bullets, and for four years a group from the United Campaign went over to Scotland to picket the factory gates. Later the factory stopped making the bullets. There were, according to Groves, at the time still a number of factories producing the bullets but "the British authorities keep their names secret". The Campaign then began focusing its efforts on a London-based company, Astra Holdings, who it hoped would stop manufacturing the bullets.
277:, died in April 1981 as the result of a bullet to the head fired by an RUC policeman. In Belfast, a 12-year-old, Carol Ann Kelly, was fatally shot on her way home with a plastic bullet after buying milk, in May 1981. It was at this point that Groves decided to do something and to have those "deadly bullets banned". In 1982, she learned that the bullets were manufactured by an American company. So she went to the US along with her daughter and an 18-year-old youth from Derry who had "lost an eye and had his face disfigured". She managed to arrange a meeting in New York with the manager of the company who manufactured them. After their talk she said "the company stopped producing the bullets."
292:"In all these years the only member of the security forces to be brought to trial was Nigel Hegarty, the police officer who killed John Downes. During the course of the trial evidence was presented in the form of photographs and a video showing the sequence of the killing. They were the same images that thousands of people had seen on TV that tragic 12 August 1984 ... Hegarty was acquitted and reinstated in the ranks of the police. Shortly afterwards he was promoted."
260:
cylinders, 4 inches (10 cm) long and 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) in diameter. Their weight was nearly 5 ounces (140 g) and they were fired at up to 170 miles per hour (270 km/h). These bullets were presented publicly as a more secure and less dangerous means of crowd control, despite that
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in August 1984. The aim of the organisation was to bring together the families bereaved or injured by rubber and plastic bullets. They also compiled information on the statistics relating to usage of plastic bullets in
Northern Ireland. In 1976, rubber bullets were replaced by plastic bullets. Up
272:
It was during those years, that several fatalities and severe injuries occurred from the use of plastic bullets by the
British security forces. In October 1976, Brian Stewart, 13 years old, was killed in Belfast by a plastic bullet after being shot by a British soldier during a street riot. Paul
297:
Groves concluded her interview by saying, "The victims of plastic bullets are always offered large sums of money as compensation. I have always refused this money as have other family members of the victims. We do not want money. What we do want is justice."
67:
As she turned back to the window, a soldier, at a distance of about eight yards, shot a rubber bullet through the window hitting her in the face. As a result, she lost her sight in both eyes. A doctor at the hospital who was removing Emma's eyes approached
501:
The Royal Ulster
Constabulary acquired plastic bullets in 1978, but the figures for 1978, 1979 and 1980 refer only to the number of plastic bullets fired by the army. The 1981 figures include plastic bullets fired by the
261:
their use was prohibited in Great
Britain as they were deemed 'a danger to the civilian population'. Despite this, Groves said they were used "unsparingly in Northern Ireland". In 1981, during the
265:, large numbers of people took to the streets to show their solidarity with the prisoners. The greatest number of plastic bullets fired was between May and August 1981, the same period in which
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72:, who was visiting Belfast at the time, to break the news to Emma that her eyesight was gone. Years later, she was offered £35,000 compensation, which was seen at the time as a
22:
301:
After John Downes, two more youths were killed by plastic bullets: Keith White, a 22-year-old from
Portadown (1986) and Seamus Duffy, aged 15, from Belfast (1989).
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John Downes was shot dead during a street disturbance. Groves, in an interview with Silvia
Calamati recorded in Belfast in August 1990, said,
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until that time they had caused the death of 12-year-old
Francis Rowntree and the wounding of a further seventy. The new bullets were solid
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mother of 11 children. At 9 a.m. on 4 November 1971, aged 51, she was standing at her living room window during
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searches on her neighbours' houses. As a mark of defiance, Emma turned on her record player and placed the ballad "
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In April 1982, an 11-year-old, Stephen McConomy, died from being shot with a plastic bullet by a soldier from the
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Francis, a pupil at St Finian's
Primary School, was shot in the head on 20 April 1972 and died two days later.
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in
Northern Ireland. She began her campaign after she was blinded from being struck in the face by a
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32:(1920 – 2 April 2007) was a human rights activist, a leading campaigner for banning the use of
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BBC News, Friday, 1 June 2001, 21:38 GMT 22:38 UK – NI plastic bullet records 'inadequate'
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BBC News, Thursday, 2 August 2001, 12:35 GMT 13:35 UK – The trouble with plastic bullets
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563:, Silvia Calamati, English language edition published 2002, Beyond the Pale, Belfast;
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http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/61/020.html The
Campaign for the Right to Truth
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Groves campaigned for thirty years for the banning of plastic bullets. Groves and
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Statement of BRENDA DOWNES To the HOUSE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
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Jonathan Rosenhead and Dr Peter J Smith, 'Ulster riot control: a warning',
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CAIN Issues: Violence – List of People killed by rubber or plastic bullets
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Numbers of rubber and plastic bullets fired in Northern Ireland 1970–1981
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admission by the Army, although the soldier involved was never charged.
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The Long War: the IRA and Sinn Féin, 1985 to Today By Brendan O'Brien
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Carol Ackroyd, Karen Margolis, Jonathan Rosenhead and Tim Shallice,
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Michael Yardley, 'What shall we do with the drunken soldier?',
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They Shoot Children: The use of rubber and plastic bullets in
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Emma Groves after being shot in the face with a rubber bullet
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Emma Groves died from undisclosed causes on 2 April 2007.
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John McGuffin and Diarmaid MacDermott, 'Plastic Death',
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Jonathan Rosenhead, 'Rubber bullets and riot control',
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Human Rights in Northern Ireland: Congressional Hearing
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Steve Wright, 'Your unfriendly neighbourhood bobby',
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513:"Francis Rowntree killing 'not justified' - coroner"
415:. Ivor Place, London: Information on Ireland. 1982.
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and the other nine prisoners died on hunger strike.
795:Dr Tim Shallice, 'The harmless bullet that kills',
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79:
559:'The troubles we've seen...'Women's Stories from
64:" on her record player and turned up the volume.
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16:Northern Ireland antit-plastic-bullet campaigner
899:People from Northern Ireland with disabilities
383:The Use of Plastic Bullets in Northern Ireland
884:Human rights activists from Northern Ireland
319:Eye injury in the 2019–2020 Chilean protests
771:, second edition, London: Pluto Press 1980.
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381:Congressional Briefing Paper, April 1993 –
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457:State Violence: Northern Ireland 1969–1997
879:People of The Troubles (Northern Ireland)
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249:United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets
236:Total rubber and plastic bullets 98,503
38:United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets
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436:Blinded plastic bullet campaigner dies
523:from the original on 6 February 2020
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769:The Technology of Political Control
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778:, vol.1 no.10, 23 August 1981.
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776:The Sunday Tribune Magazine
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339:"West Belfast's First Lady"
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36:, and a co-founder of the
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70:Mother Teresa of Calcutta
889:1971 in Northern Ireland
696:18 December 2006 at the
454:Murray, Raymond (1998).
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273:Whitters, aged 15, from
732:coverage of Emma Groves
864:Activists from Belfast
691:article on Emma Groves
485:"Death of Emma Groves"
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282:Royal Anglian Regiment
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601:Relatives for Justice
489:Relatives for Justice
368:10 April 2007 at the
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251:after the killing of
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653:15 July 2011 at the
635:15 June 2011 at the
606:15 July 2011 at the
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561:the North of Ireland
519:. 17 November 2017.
412:the north of Ireland
389:10 June 2011 at the
716:5 June 2011 at the
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894:Irish blind people
730:The New York Times
580:Human Rights Watch
343:Andersonstown News
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52:Emma Groves was a
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813:, 2 October 1981.
799:, 14 August 1981.
785:, 12 August 1971.
630:Indymedia website
569:978-1-900960-19-9
422:978-0-9507381-2-3
337:Damian McCarney.
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62:Four Green Fields
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874:2007 deaths
869:1920 births
460:. Mercier.
363:Emma Groves
267:Bobby Sands
253:John Downes
30:Emma Groves
858:Categories
325:References
677:nadir.org
44:in 1971.
714:Archived
694:Archived
651:Archived
633:Archived
604:Archived
583:Archived
521:Archived
439:Archived
387:Archived
366:Archived
313:See also
74:de facto
527:10 June
348:4 April
230:42,669
219:29,665
54:Belfast
567:
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227:55,834
209:1,231
199:1,271
189:1,734
179:1,490
169:3,464
159:3,556
134:12,724
124:23,363
114:16,752
305:Death
275:Derry
224:Total
145:2,612
90:Year
754:IMDB
565:ISBN
529:2020
462:ISBN
417:ISBN
350:2007
214:1981
204:1980
194:1979
184:1978
174:1977
164:1976
153:1975
148:216
142:1974
131:1973
121:1972
111:1971
101:1970
517:BBC
502:RUC
258:PVC
156:145
137:42
104:238
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