Catalogue Number
NMLH.1994.168.81
Object Name
Poster
Title
'Plastic Bullets Kill. Ban Them Now! Carol Ann Kelly. Age 12. Killed 22/5/81 in N. Ireland. One of Many. Young Communist League.'
Place
Northern Ireland, Ireland
People
Communist Party of Great Britain, Young Communist League (YCL)
Events
The Troubles
Description
A picture of a young girl - Carol Ann Kelly, in a sniper's sights. She is being aimed at by a police officer wearing riot gear, holding a gun capable of firing plastic rounds.
In 1981 12 year old Carol Ann was shot in the head with a plastic bullet by a British soldier as she returned from the shops on the Twinbrook estate in West Belfast, and died of her injuries three days later. Soldiers claimed their was rioting in the area that justified the shooting (though there was no claim Carol Ann Kelly was participating in a riot). They also refused to allow an ambulance to collect the child as she lay injured. The soldiers claims of rioting are disputed by residents, the coroner, and by the Northern Irish government's Historical Enquiries Team. No soldier has ever been charged with Carol's death.
Plastic bullets were developed for use in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, as a supposedly non-lethal option compared to standard bullets. Campaigners in Northern Ireland and their allies abroad worked to highlight that this was not true - that being shot with plastic rounds caused deaths, such as Carol Ann Kelly's.
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