Several witnesses yesterday described high-velocity shots hitting a wall over the head of the then Westminster MP, Ms Bernadette Devlin, as she began to address the crowd from a platform in the Bogside on Bloody Sunday.
The evidence raised new questions about the timing and extent of firing from Derry city walls, which overlook the Bogside. The questions raised include whether there was deliberate firing at the platform party or Ms Devlin (now Mrs McAliskey) and whether this firing had any bearing on the wave of shooting by paratroopers in Rossville Street immediately afterwards.
Mr Dominic O'Donnell said in evidence that as Ms Devlin started to speak, the first shots rang out - perhaps three or four sharp cracks - and he believed at the time that the shooting was coming from the city walls.
"I knew that these shots were live, high-velocity shots," he said. "I have a very clear picture in my mind of the wall breaking up above Bernadette Devlin's head, as if it had been hit by bullets."
He added, however, that although he had seen soldiers moving about on the walls, which were directly above the crowd, "in truth, the shots could have been coming from anywhere".
Mr O'Donnell said that, although he was aged only 11 at the time, he knew what internment was and "when there were marches or demonstrations, I was always somewhere to be found".
Ms Grainne O'Donnell (now Mrs Lynch) said she was 14 years old on Bloody Sunday and was close to the speakers' platform on the lorry beside Free Derry Corner. "I remember looking up and feeling excited that I was very close to Bernadette Devlin," she said.
Ms Devlin had just started talking when the witness heard shots fired. "I heard three distinct shots and saw bullets hit the wall above Bernadette Devlin's head. They seemed to come from the direction of the city walls," she said.
The shots were "sharp cracks", one after the other. "I felt they were aimed at Bernadette Devlin and remembered saying at the time that they came from the Derry walls."
Mr Charles Gallagher, who was 16 at the time, said that as he stood at the edge of the crowd around Free Derry Corner, he saw activity at one of the portals on the city walls.
"I could see movement from people dressed in dark clothing who could have been police or soldiers . . . As I was looking up to the walls two or three shots rang out clearly . . . I thought they came from the Derry walls," he said.
Replying to Lord Gifford QC, for some victims' families, he said he believed that the shots from the walls came before the army vehicles arrived in Rossville Street.
The inquiry continues today.