The Day Violence Came to a Funeral: The Milltown Cemetery Attack
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Shortly after midday on 16th March, 1988, the narrow paths of Milltown Cemetery in West Belfast were crowded with thousands of mourners. They had come to bury Sean Savage, Daniel McCann and Mairéad Farrell, three members of the Provisional IRA who had been shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar ten days earlier.
Funerals during the Troubles were never entirely private affairs. They were moments of mourning, but they were also political gatherings that drew large crowds. Journalists and television crews were present that afternoon, as they often were at such events, documenting what many expected to be another highly charged but orderly ceremony.
The coffins had been carried through the cemetery accompanied by a guard of honour. Prayers were spoken and the crowd pressed closer as the burial began. For many people present the atmosphere was solemn, even heavy. The deaths in Gibraltar had already stirred anger and grief within nationalist communities, (the three victims of the shooting had reportedly been unarmed and killed without any warning) and the funeral had become a focal point for that emotion.
Few people in the crowd noticed the man standing quietly among them.
His name was Michael Stone, a loyalist paramilitary associated with the Ulster Defence Association. He had entered the cemetery earlier that afternoon blending into the crowd of mourners. Hidden beneath his clothing were RGD 5 grenades and two handguns.
As the coffins were lowered into the graves, Stone stepped forward.
The Moment the Attack Began
The burial had reached its most solemn moment. Mourners stood close together around the graves as prayers continued and family members gathered near the coffins.
It was then that Stone reached into his clothing and produced the first grenade.
Without warning he threw it directly into the crowd.
The explosion shattered the silence of the cemetery. The blast echoed across the headstones and grassy slopes, sending fragments of earth and shrapnel through the tightly packed mourners. For a brief moment there was stunned confusion. People turned instinctively toward the source of the explosion, trying to understand what had happened.
Before anyone could react fully, a second grenade was thrown.
The funeral had instantly transformed into a scene of chaos. Smoke drifted through the air while people began running in all directions. Some attempted to pull injured friends away from the blast site. Others threw themselves to the ground or ran behind gravestones seeking cover.
Stone continued his attack.
As people scattered he drew his pistols and began firing toward those trying to escape. Witnesses later described the moment as surreal. Only seconds earlier they had been standing quietly at a graveside ceremony. Now explosions and gunfire were erupting across the cemetery.
Stone moved across the burial area throwing additional grenades toward groups of mourners while firing intermittently with his handguns.
The attack lasted only a short time but the consequences were immediate and devastating.
Three people were killed.
One of them was Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh, also known as Kevin Brady, an IRA member who had been attending the funeral. Two other mourners also died as a result of the explosions and gunfire.
Around sixty others were injured, many suffering shrapnel wounds from the grenades.
The attack might have ended there if Stone had escaped. Instead, what followed became one of the most extraordinary scenes of the Troubles.
Photos by Chris Steele-Perkins
Realisation and Pursuit
At first the crowd had reacted instinctively by trying to escape the explosions. But as Stone continued throwing grenades and firing his pistols, many people realised that a single attacker was responsible.
The reaction shifted quickly from confusion to anger.
Groups of men began running toward Stone as he moved away from the burial site.
What followed unfolded in full view of television cameras.
Stone ran through the cemetery paths attempting to escape, but dozens of mourners were now chasing him across the grounds. Footage from that afternoon shows him moving quickly between rows of graves while the crowd pursued him from behind.
The pursuit became one of the most widely recognised sequences of the entire Troubles.
Stone was still armed and dangerous. As he ran he continued throwing grenades behind him in an effort to keep his pursuers at a distance. Each explosion briefly forced the crowd to scatter before they regrouped and continued chasing him.
He also turned occasionally to fire his pistols at those closest to him.
Despite the danger, the crowd continued to pursue him.
The cemetery itself created a strange landscape for the chase. Paths wound between old headstones and walls while uneven ground slowed both Stone and the men chasing him. The pursuit twisted through different sections of the cemetery as Stone tried to find a way out.
At one point he climbed over a wall within the cemetery grounds and attempted to run across another section of grass and pathways. But the crowd remained close behind.
The distance between Stone and his pursuers gradually closed.
Eventually several men caught up with him and brought him to the ground.
The Crowd Takes Control
Once Stone had been tackled, the situation became volatile almost immediately.
The men who had chased him were quickly joined by others from the crowd. Many of them had just witnessed the attack that had killed and injured people only moments earlier.
The anger was intense.
Stone was punched and kicked repeatedly as people attempted to retaliate for what had happened. Witnesses later described the scene as chaotic and emotional. The attack had taken place during a funeral, a moment that many considered sacred even in the context of the conflict.
For those present, the sense of outrage was immediate.
Stone was struck repeatedly as members of the crowd vented their anger. Some shouted accusations while others simply joined the assault.
At one stage several individuals attempted to push him into a nearby car. It appeared that some in the crowd intended to abduct him from the cemetery.
Such an abduction would likely have meant that Stone would be executed by republican paramilitaries. But before that could happen the Royal Ulster Constabulary arrived at the scene.
Police Intervention
RUC officers forced their way through the crowd and moved quickly to secure the situation.
By the time police reached him, Stone had been severely beaten and was semi conscious. Officers pushed the crowd back and eventually managed to take him into custody.
He was placed under arrest and removed from the cemetery.
During the beating he had suffered significant injuries. His thigh bone had been dislocated, an injury that required treatment and still means he walks with a noticeable limp to this day.
While Stone was taken away under police guard, ambulances and emergency vehicles began removing the injured from the cemetery.
The attack had lasted only a matter of minutes, but its impact would resonate far beyond that afternoon.
A Moment Captured on Camera
One of the reasons the Milltown Cemetery attack remains so widely remembered is that it was filmed.
Television crews had been present to cover the funeral and captured much of the attack and the pursuit that followed. The images of Stone running through the cemetery while being chased by dozens of mourners quickly circulated around the world.
For many people outside Northern Ireland the footage became one of the defining visual representations of the Troubles.
It showed the conflict in raw and chaotic form. A funeral had become a battlefield within seconds, and the violence had unfolded in front of cameras.
The Immediate Aftermath
The attack did not end with Stone’s arrest.
The violence at Milltown Cemetery intensified tensions across Northern Ireland. The funerals of those killed in the attack took place only a few days later.
During one of those funerals on 19th March, 1988, two British Army corporals accidentally drove into the funeral procession in West Belfast. The soldiers were dragged from their car and killed by a crowd in what became known as the corporals killings.
The two incidents became closely linked in public memory.
Together they illustrated how quickly violence during the Troubles could escalate from one event to another.
Why the Milltown Attack Still Matters
More than three decades later the Milltown Cemetery attack remains one of the most striking moments of the Northern Ireland conflict.
The event contained many of the elements that defined the Troubles. It took place in a civilian setting, involved paramilitary violence, triggered immediate retaliation, and unfolded in front of television cameras.
But perhaps most striking was the setting.
Funerals during the conflict were already emotionally charged events. They symbolised loss, loyalty and political identity. The idea that violence could erupt in the middle of such a ceremony shocked even those who had become accustomed to the brutality of the conflict.
For historians the Milltown Cemetery attack illustrates the volatile atmosphere of Northern Ireland during the late 1980s. Violence could appear suddenly and unpredictably, even during moments meant for mourning.
The images from that afternoon remain some of the most enduring visual records of the Troubles. They capture a moment when grief, anger and political conflict collided in a cemetery in West Belfast.
And they remind us how quickly the quiet ritual of a funeral could turn into one of the most dramatic episodes in modern Irish history.
