David Cameron has insisted his apology for Bloody Sunday left 'no doubt' that what happened was wrong, as the 50th anniversary of the killings approaches. The former prime minister apologised in 2010 after the Saville Inquiry found the deaths of 13 civil rights demonstrators in Londonderry were 'unjustified and unjustifiable'.
Speaking to BBC Talkback, Cameron said he chose those words deliberately to avoid any qualification. 'Sometimes with these sort of events politicians... qualify the apology or shade around the edges. On this occasion it needed to be absolutely direct and clear,' he said.
Cameron added that he was 'very moved' by the reaction in Derry to his House of Commons apology, and understood why families continued to seek justice. 'It's really a double jeopardy, of having your relatives suffer... and for so long not having a faithful account of what actually happened,' he said.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheál Martin will become the first serving Irish prime minister to lay a wreath at a memorial service in Derry on Sunday. He praised the 'persistence, dignity, and resilience' of the victims' families, saying their journey for justice 'stands as a monument in itself'.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson described Bloody Sunday as 'one of the darkest days in our history' during Prime Minister's Questions, and called for learning from the past to build a shared future. An anniversary mass was held on Friday, where Bishop Donal McKeown said the people of Derry had shown 'great dignity and courage'.
