Ivan Cooper Ivan Cooper Ivan Averill Cooper (born January 1944) is a former politician from Northern Ireland who was a member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and a founding member of the SDLP. He is best known for leading an anti-internment march which developed into the Bloody Sunday massacre on 30 January 1972, in Derry, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Cooper was born to a working-class Protestant family in Killaloo, County Londonderry, and later moved to the "Bogside" area of Derry city. He was briefly a member of the Claudy Young Unionist Association until April 1965 when he joined the Northern Ireland
The Troubles in Derry The British troops were at first welcomed by most Bogside residents as a neutral force. No deaths resulted from the 'battle', but it is estimated that more than 1000 people were injured, many of them seriously. The Battle of the Bogside is often regarded as the point at which the Troubles properly began. After the Battle of the Bogside, rioting and battles with police occurred in Derry on a semi-regular basis. In February 1971 a British Army soldier died after his vehicle was petrol bombed in the Bogside. In July that year, two rioters in the Bogside were shot dead