Internment introduced in Northern Ireland – archive, 10 August 1971

10 August 1971: Violence sweeps Belfast as government brings in detention without trial

At least 12 people had been killed by the early hours of this morning in a terrifying wave of rioting, shooting, and bombing which engulfed Northern Ireland after the reintroduction of the Special Powers Act regulation allowing for the internment without trial of political subversives. Between 300 and 400 people have been held.

The dead included a Roman Catholic priest who was caught in a cross-fire as he administered the last rites to a wounded man on the New Barnsley estate in Belfast, a member of the Ulster Defence Regiment who was killed at Clady, County Tyrone, and a civilian who died from wounds after a shooting at Armagh.