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"That tall reddish building to the left is where they're holding the
Bloody Sunday Enquiry," Jillian told us. Seeing the door open, we
wandered inside and learned that in fact, the enquiry was open to the
public; we need only check our cameras at the door and we could go right
in and observe.
Imagine being able to walk in and view a reopening of the Kennedy
assassination case. For the first time we found the history we had been
reading on placards and exploring in touristy museums to actually being
played out before us, live.
The interior of the building was enormous, with a huge wall of
stained glass depicting town history, and an incredible pipe organ
filling the breadth and height of the far end. We sat in a balcony two
stories up, where we could look down on the proceedings, or view it on
one of the large flatscreen panels hung from the ceiling. The main
floor was celled with desks of lawyers and reporters. Every desk held a
pair of flat LCD panels, one for a computer and the other to view the
materials being discussed. On our left was a raised desk at which the
witness sat, a computer screen also at his side as he related the events
as he remembered them from that day.
The original investigation into the events of Bloody Sunday had been
a "whitewash" and had ignored evidence and witness testamonies. The
intent of this re-opened enquiry is to obtain more factual, less biased
understanding of exactly what happened. We can hope that the distance
of time will assist in ensuring historical accuracy takes priority over
political expediency.
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