Amid all the chaos and destruction eight people lay dead, four of them killed by the RUC and another by B Specials. The police force, which was then only 3,000-strong, had reached its limits and with its men exhausted and in many cases injured Chichester-Clark asked London to send in troops to restore order. He did so with the greatest reluctance, since Wilson and Callaghan had already made it clear that they did not wish to deploy the military. They had also made it clear that if troops did go in, the political balance between Belfast and London would change fundamentally, since they would
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