Families of the men killed by British soldiers on Bloody Sunday began poring over the long-awaited and voluminous report into the deaths today, ahead of its official publication later.
Bereaved relatives hugged each other and cried as they marched in silence to the Guildhall in Derry, where they began reading the conclusions of Lord Saville's inquiry into the killings of 14 men on 30 January 1972, an event that led to 30 years of violent conflict in Northern Ireland.
Amid emotional scenes, they arrived at the venue to applause. Relatives clutched placards bearing the photographs of the dead, bearing the motto "Set the Truth Free".
The 60-page executive summary of the report was delivered overnight under heavy security. Lawyers involved in the inquiry were allowed in at 8am.
Two representatives of each of those killed or wounded – a total of 56 family members – gathered under the city walls at 9.45am.
In the warm sunshine, they collected around the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association monument to the fallen that stands on the edge of Bogside, the district of Derry in which the protest that led to the killings began.
The names of the 14 who died are engraved in the grey stone beneath the heading: "Their Epitaph is in the continuing struggle for democracy." Six of the dead were 17 years old.
Joe Friel was shot in the chest by a paratrooper on Bloody Sunday. Bleeding heavily, he staggered away from the soldiers and was carried by friends out of the Bogside.
Friel, now 58, was in the first group of families permitted into the Guildhall in Derry today to be given early sight the long-awaited inquiry into what happened on that day.
"I was in Glenfada Park estate when the shooting started," he recalled. "I was trying to get home across the road to the Rossville Flats.
"There was a real crowd and when I heard [the gunfire] I hid behind a broken down car.
"There was a lull in the shooting so I got up but I saw a soldier who was firing from the hip. Other soldiers came running into the estate and Jim Wray [another civil rights marcher] went down. A soldier put two bullets into him as he lay on the ground.
"I managed to stay on my feet and kept moving. I had been hit in the chest. I kept going but fell to the ground. People picked me up and carried me away."
One of the soldiers later claimed Friel been throwing nail bombs. "So one soldier tried to murder me and one tried to frame me. Total scum.
"I want to see them prosecuted but I know it won't happen."
John Kelly, whose brother died that day, was another of those allowed into the Guildhall early to read the report. "It will be down to the crown prosecution whether there will be any prosecutions now," he said. "My brother's right to life was taken away that day."
After a round of applause, the families walked through the Bogside where the killings took place in 1972. As they moved forward in silence a phalanx of cameramen and photographers walked backwards in front of them.
At William Street, where army barricades blocked their progress into the city centre on that day, the procession turned towards the Guildhall.
Some wore suits, some T-shirts. Many had grey or white hair, a reminder of the passage of time and their long wait for what they hope may finally deliver justice.
John Kelly, whose brother Michael Kelly was killed, said he had been unable to sleep last night as he awaited the release of the report.
"We are not looking for an apology, you cannot apologise to the dead," he said.
But Kelly said he hoped that a 38-year struggle to have the circumstances of his brother's death officially acknowledged was about to end.
"Murder happened here in this city and the politicians will hopefully agree," he said.
"Bloody Sunday had a great impact on the Troubles here. It was a major historical event and today is a major historical event."
Sinn Féin politicians Martin McGuinness and Conor Murphy accompanied the procession.
McGuinness, who was second in command of the IRA in Derry in 1972 and who now fills the role of Northern Ireland deputy first minister, said people around the globe would be anxiously awaiting the publication of the Saville report.
"This is a big day for Derry," he said. "This is a big day for Ireland. This is a big day for the world, because the eyes of the world are looking at what is going to happen."
The report, which runs to 10 volumes at 5,000 pages and reportedly cost £191m to produce, will be officially launched by David Cameron at 3.30pm. An estimated 10,000 people are expected to congregate in Guildhall Square to watch the prime minister's announcement of the report's publication. A small number of police officers have been positioned close to the banks of the River Foyle, discretely away from the main event in Derry city centre.
