Civilians arrested on Bloody Sunday were beaten, humiliated and brutally treated for several hours when they were taken to a holding centre at an army base in Derry, according to numerous statements heard at the inquiry yesterday.
Many described being forced to "run a gauntlet" between two lines of soldiers wielding batons and rifle butts, while Alsatian dogs held on chains lunged at them.
One man, Mr William Dillon, said he will always remember hearing a paratrooper saying loudly to a furiously barking dog: "Don't be fretting now, boy. There's plenty of fresh meat for you. We shot nine of these bastards today."
Most statements from soldiers of the Coldstream Guards Regiment, who witnessed the arrival of prisoners at the Fort George base, said they did not notice any mistreatment of civilians. A few said there was "rough handling".
Counsel to the tribunal, Mr Christopher Clarke QC, said there was a considerable body of civilian evidence that those taken in army lorries to Fort George were made run a gauntlet on their way into the building where they were detained.
He read part of the statement of Mr James Charles Doherty, who said he was "grabbed by my hair and clothes by a soldier and was pulled out of the back of the lorry".
Mr Doherty continued: "I fell on to hard concrete and when I looked up I saw that there were two lines of soldiers forming a corridor between the back of the lorry and the door of the building.
"Each line of soldiers was about 30 yards long. The soldiers were armed with some type of baton and they were banging these against something which made a loud noise.
"One of the soldiers told me to `run for the f. . .ing door, you bastard' and I did so. I ran between the lines of soldiers and was beaten with batons and kicked and punched several times."
As he went through the door he saw a soldier with "a massive Alsatian on a chain". He thought the dog was going to attack him, but it was pulled sharply back at the last minute. "It was obvious that the soldier with the dog was doing his best to scare me."
Mr Charles Glenn, a uniformed Knights of Malta volunteer, also described having to run the gauntlet of the soldiers. "As I ran . . . I was hit with the butts of guns. I was hit in the thigh with the muzzle of a gun."
Mr John Gormley, who was also in the lorry, said he was "grabbed by my hair and literally thrown out backwards". He fell on his shoulders and "I was kicked the minute I hit the ground".
He said he and others had to run the gauntlet with their hands on their heads. "The soldiers battered the daylights out of people. I was kicked and beaten from both sides. The man in front of me fell to the ground and someone fell over the top of him.
"They were beaten up on the floor. I kept my head down and ran as fast as I could to the building ahead."
Mr Joseph McColgan said the soldiers were not all paratroopers. But all had sticks or batons and were "striking people wherever they could hit them". He added: "The soldiers were laughing and shouting and seemed to be enjoying themselves. . .I remember that there were a couple of German Shepherd dogs on chains which were lunging towards the people running towards the hangar."
Father Terence O'Keeffe, a lecturer in philosophy and dean of the school of humanities at the University of Ulster, Coleraine, was also among those arrested.
In a contemporaneous statement in 1972 he said he also ran the gauntlet and was struck several times on the legs, body and arms.
Mr Robert Wallace said when his turn came to dismount from the lorry, "I slipped and fell and was whacked a few times with batons. I was badly dazed. The Paras were behaving like animals and treating the gauntlet as though it was a bit of sport."
However, Soldier 321, a lance corporal in the Coldstream Guards, said in a statement he saw a lorry drive up and civilians "being ushered in" to the building.
"I do not remember any of the paratroopers making any gestures towards the civilians. They just seemed to be guiding them into the building," he says.
Soldier 855, another guardsman, said the paratroopers were doing no more than "helping the prisoners climb down. . .The Paras were treating the prisoners perfectly well and were using the minimum force necessary to escort the prisoners".
Soldier 951, also a guardsman, said: "The Paras were quite pleasant in their attitude to the civilians and there was no swearing or shouting, nor were the civilians shoved and prodded as they walked towards the warehouse. . ."
Two other soldiers said there was a certain amount of rough handling, but that this was justified. One, Soldier 552, said some civilians refused to get out of the vehicles when they arrived. "There was a lot of shouting and swearing and I recall seeing some of the Paras with dogs getting into the trucks."
A number of civilian statements described being held in a cage, or pen, fenced with razor wire, inside the larger building, and being forced to stand outstretched with only their fingertips touching the wall.
Mr Dennis Patrick McLaughlin, then aged 16, said he was positioned under a large gas heater and he asked a soldier for a drink as he was thirsty. "The soldier, who was taller than me, said `Open your mouth'. Not being my full self at that moment due to everything that had happened that day, I opened my mouth and he spat into it."
The same incident was described by Father O'Keeffe, who said they were forced to stand from 5 p.m. to about 8 p.m., except for five minutes when they were given a cup of tea. He said: "I witnessed many acts of brutality committed on the prisoners."
Father O'Keeffe added that at around eight o'clock an officer arrived and ordered chairs and electric heaters to be provided.
Counsel then began to read to the inquiry a letter written by Father O'Keeffe to Gen Sir Harry Tuzo, then GOC Northern Ireland, in which he made a formal complaint about the violence inflicted by the troops on the civilians while in military custody.
Describing this as quite an important letter, counsel said he would continue to deal with it when the inquiry resumes today.