In the 1970s, the “burning” that effectively ended British diplomatic presence in the Irish Republic (the south) was the Burning of the British Embassy in Dublin in 1972. It was a pivotal moment of national fury that essentially told the British government they were no longer welcome in the Republic’s capital. This event was a direct response to Bloody Sunday, which had happened just three days prior in Derry, where British paratroopers killed 13 unarmed civil rights marchers. The Protest: An estimated 100,000 people (one of the largest protests in Irish history) marched on the British Embassy at 39 Merrion Square in Dublin. Protesters carried black coffins to the embassy steps. Using petrol bombs and gelignite, the crowd breached the building’s defenses. Despite a line of Irish police (Gardaí), the building was eventually gutted by fire. The British Ambassador and his staff had to be evacuated, and the embassy was relocated to a much more secure, less central location. It served as a massive symbolic “eviction” of the British diplomatic core from the heart of Dublin.