Operation Flavius was a military operation in which three members of the
Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) were killed by the British
Special Air Service (SAS) in Gibraltar on 6 March 1988. The three were
believed to be mounting a car bomb attack on British military personnel,
but they proved to be unarmed and no bomb was discovered. This event
started a violent spree in which mourners were killed at the funeral of
the IRA members, then two British soldiers were killed after they
accidentally drove into a funeral procession for one of the mourners. A
documentary, "Death on the Rock", was televised on 24 April 1988 and
presented the possibility that the three IRA members had been unlawfully
killed. An inquest ruled that the SAS had acted lawfully, but the
European Court of Human Rights held that the planning and control of the
operation was so flawed as to make the use of lethal force almost
inevitable, a breach of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human
Rights.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Flavius>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1853:
Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata premiered at La Fenice in Venice,
but the performance was considered so bad that it caused him to revise
portions of the opera.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_traviata>
1933:
The Nazi Party took the first step in the Gleichschaltung
process by passing the Enabling Act, giving the government the right to
make laws without the involvement of the Reichstag.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleichschaltung>
1964:
In a radio broadcast, Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad
announced that American boxer Cassius Clay would change his name to
Muhammad Ali (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali>
1987:
The ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized while leaving the
harbour of Zeebrugge, Belgium, killing 193 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Herald_of_Free_Enterprise>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Coronatide:
(Christianity, neologism) The period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Coronatide>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Life, struck sharp on death, Makes awful lightning.
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Barrett_Browning>
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