Tonight, Catholic leaders in Northern Ireland have accused the British of mass murder.

The cardinal primate of Ireland has demanded an investigation by British Prime Minister

Heath, and the Irish Republican army has sworn to avenge the deaths in Londonary.

That's how Garrick Utley opened the NBC evening news on January 30th, 1972, as outrage

was growing in response to bloody Sunday.

The IRA wasn't the only group that wanted vengeance.

Two days after the killings, tens of thousands of angry protesters gathered outside the British

embassy in Dublin.

They spent all afternoon fighting to get past the police and into the building, and as

night fell, they finally broke through.

They smashed out the windows and somebody blew the door open with a jellic night bomb.

They threw Molotov cocktails, and in the early hours of the next day, the embassy caught

fire.

NBC cameras were there as the crowd roared, and the building went up in flames.

The Irish government apologized, but Dubliners mostly were upset over what happened in Londonary.

I think the burning of the British embassy might serve to highlight to the world the frustrations

of the Irish people in the face of British and Transitions as we see it in this country.

The world did take notice.

Even President Nixon was concerned.

A few days later, he called William Rogers the US Secretary of State.

Their conversation was captured by Nixon's secret sound activated

recording system.

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