Gerard Donaghy: “Donaghy was a member of Fianna Éireann, an IRA-linked republican youth movement.Paddy Ward, a police informer,told the Saville Inquiry he gave two nail bombs to Donaghy several hours before he was shot.The Inquiry concluded that the bombs were probably in Donaghy's pockets when he was shot”. “Saville said that none of the victims were armed "with the probable exception of Gerald Donaghy".
The soldier who shot Wray faces trial for Murder. The British Army were held to a higher standard, that’s why their soldiers face trial and inquiry over everything that happens.
I wouldn’t call it a peaceful protest when you have IRA men there with bombs and guns, even if the majority had no affiliation with the IRA. Even Republicans admit the IRA were present that day. They won’t admit they were armed but it’s clear they were.
“In the event, one man was witnessed by Father Edward Daly and others haphazardly firing a revolver in the direction of the paratroopers. Later identified as a member of the Official IRA, this man was also photographed in the act of drawing his weapon, but was apparently not seen or targeted by the soldiers. Various other claims have been made to the Saville Inquiry about gunmen on the day.”
“A member of the Official IRA told the inquiry that they had shot at soldiers very early on in retaliation to the shooting of two of the protesters. Saville said: "These two Official IRA members had gone to a pre-arranged sniping position in order to fire at the soldiers; and probably did so when an opportunity presented itself rather than because two civilians had been injured."”
There you have it. IRA men went out that day with the intention to shoot at the Paras. On top of this Savile never said the Paras definitely shot first, only on the balance of probabilities, which isn’t a hard standard of proof to reach given we don’t know how many IRA men were there, or how many were armed. It’s not like they were going to admit to the inquiry about what they were actually doing there either, case in point: Martin McGuinness.
“The report concluded that an Official IRA sniper fired on British soldiers, albeit that on the balance of evidence his shot was fired after the Army shots that wounded Damien Donaghey and John Johnston. The Inquiry rejected the sniper's account that this shot had been made in reprisal, stating the view that he and another Official IRA member had already been in position, and the shot had probably been fired simply because the opportunity had presented itself.”
Every death was regrettable and some were clearly unjustifiable. The IRA and other terrorists brought this on though, when they decided to show up to a protest with bombs and guns. When you open fire and throw bombs and missiles from within a crowd civilians are going to get shot. The IRA can’t act like terrorists and expect the army to treat them as anything but. Plenty of people couldn’t properly come forward or make claims about the IRA firing first as it would have put their lives in danger.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1382070/I-fired-shots-on-Bloody-Sunday-says-IRA-man.html