That afternoon over 1 @,@ 500 Bogside residents built barricades , armed themselves with steel bars , wooden clubs and hurleys , and told the police that they would not be allowed into the area . DCAC chairman John Hume told a meeting of residents that they were to defend the area and no @-@ one was to come in . Groups of men wearing armbands patrolled the streets in shifts . John ' Caker ' Casey , a local activist , painted " You are now entering Free Derry " in white paint on the gable wall of a house on the corner of Lecky Road and Fahan Street . That corner , which was a popular venue for meetings , later became known as " Free Derry Corner " . On 7 January , the barricaded area was extended to include the Creggan , another nationalist area on a hill overlooking the Bogside . A clandestine radio station calling itself " Radio Free Derry " began broadcasting to residents , playing rebel songs and encouraging resistance . On a small number of occasions law @-@ breakers attempted crimes , but were dealt with by the patrols . Despite all this , the Irish Times reported that " the infrastructure of revolutionary control in the area has not been developed beyond the maintenance of patrols . " Following some acts of destruction and of violence late in the week , members of the DCAC including Ivan Cooper addressed residents on Friday , 10 January and called on them to dismantle the barricades . The barricades were taken down the following morning .