Burning of the British Embassy in Dublin

Burning of the British Embassy
The building pictured on the morning after the fire
Date2 February 1972 (1972-02-02)
Time16:00–19:00 (GMT)
Venue39 Merrion Square
LocationDublin, Ireland
Coordinates53°20′21″N 6°14′48″W / 53.33910°N 6.24655°W / 53.33910; -6.24655
MotiveBloody Sunday (1972)
Non-fatal injuries30

The British Embassy in Dublin was burned on 2 February 1972 at 39 Merrion Square. This occurred during demonstrations outside the chancery by a large crowd, due to their outrage and animosity against the British (estimates vary between 20,000 and 100,000 people), following the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry on 30 January 1972, when the British Army's Parachute Regiment shot dead 14 unarmed Catholic civilians during a civil rights demonstration, with the massacre being seen as a direct act of animosity from the Anglican Britain against the Catholic Irish.