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Divis Tower
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Divis Tower is a 61m (200.08 feet) tall tower in Belfast, Northern Ireland. 20 floors tall, it was built in 1966. It is named after the nearby Divis Mountain.
Due to IRA in the area, the British Army constructed an observation post on the roof in the 1970s and occupied the top two floors of the building. At the height of The Troubles, the army was only able to access the post by helicopter.
Divis Tower was a flashpoint area during the height of the Troubles. 9 year old Patrick Rooney, the first child killed in the Troubles, was killed in the tower during the Northern Ireland riots of August 1969, when the RUC fired a Browning machine gun from their Shorland armoured car into the flats.[1] The RUC believed they were coming uder sniper attack from the tower at the time. Rooney's death took place during a day of street violence in the area, including confrontations between the RUC and armed IRA members. Chairman of the enquiry into the riots, Mr Justice Scarman, found the use of the Browning machine gun "wholly unjustifiable".[2]
In 1981, a British Army sniper killed IRA member Emmanuel McClarnon from the top of Divis Tower, on the night Francis Hughes died on hunger strike.[3]
Following the IRA's statement that it was ending its armed campaign, the British army decided to dismantle the observation post. Dubbed a 'spy' post by Sinn Féin, removal of the observation post, which was erected in the 1970s, commenced on August 2 2005.[4]
Divis Tower rises near the border between Falls Road and Shankill Road. It is currently the sixth tallest building in Belfast.