U2 uses tour to highlight police failure to declassify files on Troubles bombings (VIDEO)

U2 is dedicating a section of their world tour to a campaign calling on the British government to release classified files regarding the 1974 bombings in Dublin and Monaghan by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

The band play a stripped down version of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” towards the end of the first half of the concert. The four band members all march out to the middle of the catwalk lit up in the colors of the Irish flag. Behind them, the screens show photographs of victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings interspersed with news broadcasts of the bombings.

They then lead into “Raised by Wolves” a song written about the events of May 17, 1974 when 4 coordinated car bombings, three in Dublin and one in Monaghan, killed 33 civilians and a full-term unborn child and injured almost 300 people. The bombings were one of the deadliest attacks of the Troubles.

Although the UVF claimed responsibility in 1993, nobody has ever been charged for the bombings and there have been many credible allegations over the years, some from members of the security forces, that members of the British state security forces helped the UVF carry out the bombings.

Due to pressure from the victims’ families, the Irish government conducted an inquiry under Justice Henry Barron. In 2003, Barron’s report found that the Irish police had not properly investigated the bombings and claimed that it was highly likely members of the British security forces were involved in the set-up. There is insufficient evidence to confirm of this involvement because the inquiry was hindered by the British government’s refusal to release key documents regarding the bombings. The victims’ families have campaigned for the documents' release ever since.

All photos shown are with permission of the victims families, with whom U2 is working with on a campaign to release the classified files.