Page 204 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

Market Street, that flows downhill from the city center. Republican political party Sinn Fein denounced it, as
On August 15, 1998, a very ordinary day turned violent did Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Bill Clinton,
when a car-bomb detonated on Market Street, killing and Pope John Paul II.
29 people and injuring 220, the highest casualty toll of We chanced upon this history during a stroll down
any single incident during the long Troubles. Terrorists Market Street, where we found a memorial in the
had planted the bomb to protest the recently signed shape of a pillar of glass where the bomb went off.
Good Friday Agreement, which aimed to bring peace Then we discovered Omagh Memorial Garden about
and form a Northern Ireland Assembly. A group called 300 yards away, which was established as a tribute
the Real Irish Republican Army allegedly planted the to the victims. The garden includes 31 mirrors for the
bomb. The purpose was to rally people against the 29 people and two unborn babies killed in the attack –
peace accord, but it had the opposite effect, as it was one of the victims was a mother carrying twins – and
met with wholesale outrage. People in both Northern plaques honoring each victim. The mirrors are situated
Ireland and the Republic responded by calling for an to direct sunlight to the memorial where the bomb
end to such mindless slaughter. Leaders of the Irish went off.

204 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018