ONE of the women who took part in the historic march which ended the Falls Curfew has told an inquiry how the women broke through British Army lines to eventually bring the three days of shootings and house raids to an end. Sheila McVeigh had turned 19 the week before the Falls Curfew, which took place between July 3 and 5, 1970. Four people were shot dead by the British Army and 78 people were injured, with hundreds of arrests made and countless homes raided over that weekend. The four people who were shot dead by the British Army were Charles O’Neill (36); William Burns (54); Patrick Elliman (62); and Zbigniew Uglik (23). Sheila was speaking on the third sitting of the Independent Panel of Inquiry into the Falls Curfew. Previous sittings of the inquiry have seen family members read out pen portraits of those who were killed, as well as eyewitness accounts from Falls residents about the events of that weekend. Chaired by Michael Mansfield KC, the panel – along with solicitor Pádraig Ó Muirigh – have questioned the witnesses during sessions in St Comgall’s, Divis Street. Sheila said there are very few women left who took part in the July 5 march, but those who did take part “didn’t know what we were walking into with armed soldiers that particular day".
