Paterson meets victims’ families
Secretary of State Owen Paterson is to meet the families of 11 people shot dead by the Parachute Regiment in west Belfast in 1971.
The families, from the Ballymurphy area, are calling for an independent international inquiry into the deaths.
A Catholic priest and a mother-of-eight were among those killed over a three-day period in the city.
The troops claimed they opened fire after being shot at by republicans.
John Taggart’s father Danny was among the victims.
He described the meeting with Owen Paterson as “very important”.
“Hopefully when we go it will be to start to put in place the mechanism for an independent investigation,” he said.
“We would expect an apology and hope that is what it is but an apology is an empty thing.
“He needs to do the right thing for the Ballymurphy families.”
The above video covers the events in Ballymurphy during internment without trial in August 1971 (From Ballymurphy.org)
