Falls Curfew

Falls Curfew
Part of the Troubles/Operation Banner
Date 3–5 July 1970 Location Belfast, Northern Ireland Result Military Stalemate Curfew broken in the aftermath Large number of Official IRA weapons captured by British Army 337 people arrested Curfew broken by neighbouring residents 4 civilians killed & several other civilians injured by the British Army
Belligerents
British Government	Official IRA Provisional IRA
Commanders and leaders
Sir Ian Freeland	Jim Sullivan Billy McMillen Charles Hughes Brendan Hughes
Units involved
British Army	Belfast Brigade D Company, Belfast Brigade
Strength
3,000 soldiers	80–90 volunteers 11 volunteers
Casualties and losses
18 wounded	Unknown Several wounded
4 civilians killed 60 civilians wounded

The Falls Curfew, also called the Battle of the Falls (or Lower Falls), was a British Army operation during 3–5 July 1970 in the Falls district of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The operation began as a search for weapons in the staunchly Irish nationalist district. As the search ended, local youths attacked the British soldiers with stones and petrol bombs and the soldiers responded with CS gas. This quickly developed into gun battles between British soldiers and the Irish Republican Army (IRA). After four hours of continuous clashes, the British commander sealed off the area, which comprised 3,000 homes, and imposed a curfew which would last for 36 hours. Thousands of British troops moved into the curfew zone and carried out house-to-house searches for weapons, while coming under intermittent attack from the IRA and rioters. The searches caused much destruction, and a large amount of CS gas was fired into the area. Many residents complained of suffering abuse at the hands of the soldiers. On 5 July, the curfew was brought to an end when thousands of women and children from Andersonstown marched into the curfew zone with food and other supplies for the locals.

During the operation, four civilians were killed by the British Army, at least 78 people were wounded and 337 were arrested. Eighteen soldiers were also wounded. Large quantities of weapons and ammunition were captured. The British Army admitted afterwards that some of its soldiers had been involved in looting.^[1] The Falls Curfew was a turning point in the Troubles. It is seen as having turned many Catholics/Irish nationalists against the British Army and having boosted support for the IRA.