Bloody Sunday protest
© EPAFamilles and friends of those killed on Bloody Sunday in 1972 march in Derry in 2010.
Today there was solemn news on the BBC. The prosecutor in Northern Ireland is going to charge a British soldier with murder for two of the 14 killings on Bloody Sunday in Londonderry.

Bloody Sunday was January 1972. Forty-seven years ago.

The families of the victims have never forgotten the fallen. They marched through the streets yesterday. The arc of history is long but sometimes it really does bend toward justice.

The Guardian reminds us that the victims were unarmed protesters. Though there were also militants in the crowd.
The inquiry found the killings were unjustified and that none of the 14 dead was carrying a gun, no warnings were given, no soldiers were under threat and the troops were the first to open fire.
Wikipedia says that the British had a reason to suppress the protests.
The authorities expected that [the plans for the march] would lead to rioting.
You know just where this story is going. Since last March 30th, Israeli soldiers have shot thousands of unarmed Palestinian protesters before the eyes of the world. Or the eyes that aren't blinded anyway. Some 256 Palestinians have died. Thousands more have been wounded, many of them maimed.

B'Tselem and the United Nations have concluded that the Israeli army is committing war crimes. Last April, B'Tselem took the further step of urging Israeli soldiers not to shoot the protesters, and to refuse their commanders' orders. Shooting those protesters is unmistakably and patently illegal, B'Tselem said. As if there was any doubt.

We're coming up on the one-year anniversary of the first Friday's march in Gaza. Thousands will memorialize that day. Let us hope the Israeli soldiers have read the news from Northern Ireland.