Derry Citizens' Defence Association

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The Derry Citizens' Defense Association (DCDA) was an organisation set up in Derry in July 1969 in response to a threat to nationalist residents from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and civilian unionists, in connection with the annual parade of the Apprentice Boys of Derry on 12 August.{{cite web |url=http://www.museumoffreederry.org/history-battle01.html |title=History – Battle of the Bogside |work=Museum of Free Derry |year=2005 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160719202305/http://www.museumoffreederry.org/history-battle01.html |archivedate=19 July 2016}} This followed clashes with the RUC in January and April 1969, which resulted in widespread violence. The DCDA played a prominent role in co-ordinating the area's residents in the Battle of the Bogside, and was the effective government of the self-declared Free Derry from August to October 1969. Its leaders included Seán Keenan, Paddy Doherty and Johnnie White. Keenan and White were well-known republicans.{{cite book |last=Thorne |first=Kathleen |author-link= |date=2019 |title=Echoes of Their Footsteps Volume Three |url= |location=Oregon |publisher=Generation Organization |pages=556, 606 |isbn=978-0-692-04283-0}}