On this day in 1916, Padraig Pearse gave official orders to surrender during the Easter Rising.
It came after six days of tense fighting, heavy civilian casualties and large-scale destruction of property in the capital.
Pearse, who on the 24 April 1916 read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic outside the GPO, ordered his soldiers to step down in order to “prevent the further slaughter of Dublin citizens”.
Of those killed in the fighting, over half were civilians. On top of this, fewer than one-third were British combatants, and fewer than one-fifth were Irish fighters.
After initial condemnation of Pearse and the rest of the Rising members, public opinion slowly began to change following the execution of those involved at Kilmainham Gaol.
Two republican groups stop traffic on O'Connell Street as they hold Easter Rising commemorations
It accelerated a change that led to a landslide Sinn Fein general election victory in 1918, despite the rebels being a tiny minority years previously.
Pearse was executed in Kilmainham Gaol on May 3, 1916, aged 36.
Convicted Dublin man Brian Kenna is leader of New IRA political wing Saoradh
