They claim the CR gas has resulted in a high incidence of cancers and lung problems among former internees. It is thought that more than 50 prisoners affected by the chemical spray have died or become ill.
After years of denial by the British authorities, it emerged earlier this year in documents released under the new Freedom of Information Act that CR gas was authorised for use in Northern Ireland in 1973.
Jim McCann, an internee in Long Kesh, has been compiling a list of the prisoners there when the gas was released. “It is clear that a lot of men were badly affected by what happened to them that day,” he said.The effect of the gas, which was dropped in canisters from helicopters and then divided into thousands of little droplets, was immediate and debilitating. To think that it is now costing men’s lives is horrifying.
“We have fought for years to prove that the British used us as guinea pigs for a gas that even the American armed forces would not buy. Blood samples were taken from prisoners affected by the gas.”
Research into the effects of the gas is being carried out by Coiste na n-Iarchimi, a republican ex-prisoners’ association, by Madden and Finucane solicitors and by Sinn Fein. All the cases are being compiled for a possible action under international human rights law.
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CR or dibenzoxazepine is a skin irritant 10 times more powerful than other tear gases. The effects of CR are similar to those of CS, the more common riot-control gas, except that CR also induces intense pain on any exposed skin. The affected areas remain sensitive for days and become painful again after contact with water. An American government estimation of the effects of the gas, which was produced in Britain, is that it cannot be safely used because “not enough is known about the carcinogenic or mutagenic effects it might have”.
Many of the men in Long Kesh, near Lisburn, were internees not charged with specific crimes. Among the internees and sentenced criminals were members of both the official and provisional wings of the IRA, and loyalists, including Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader, Richard McAuley, the Sinn Fein press officer, and Gusty Spence, the leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force.
The riot at the prison involved nearly 800 republican inmates in a dispute with the Northern Ireland Prison Service over visits, food and compassionate parole. Prisoners were largely allowed to run their own affairs at the time, even holding rival Easter parades. They had already made respirators to combat the CS gas they thought the British Army would use.
Republicans burnt 21 of the compounds used to house internees and took over the entire prison complex, destroying watch towers and prison buildings. Some leaders, including Adams, refused to burn their cells. The next morning the British Army set about recapturing the prison. A helicopter fired gas canisters, which are now believed to have contained the CR gas. Prisoners were incapacitated and easily overpowered by the guards.
McCann said: “The canister exploded above us and the air was filled with fumes. It felt as if your lungs were filling with water. It was overpowering.”
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The cost of the burning of Long Kesh was estimated at £1.5m (€2.2m). About 130 prisoners and nine warders were injured.