Victims of McGurk’s bar bombing remembered

A memorial was unveiled in Belfast to mark the 30th anniversary of a loyalist bombing in which 15 people died.

Men, women and children lost their lives in the one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles at The Tramore Bar - better known as McGurk’s - in North Queen Street on December 4, 1971.

Many others were injured when four loyalists, operating under a cover name for the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force, bombed the bar without warning in the Catholic area of the city.

Only one of the bombers - the driver of the getaway car - was ever convicted. Seven years after the bomb, a UVF man received 15 life sentences after he was convicted of the bombing.

On Tuesday December 4, a memorial was unveiled on the site of the bar to mark the anniversary of the atrocity.

Later on a Mass was held at St Patrick’s Chapel, Donegall Street, where local residents laid fifteen wreaths on the altar to remember the dead.

A candlelit procession for peace then followed the mass, from the church to the corner of Great George’s Street. (AMcE)