After Operation Motorman , the British Army controlled the Bogside and Creggan by stationing large numbers of troops within the area , by conducting large @-@ scale ' search ' operations that were in fact undertaken for purposes of intelligence gathering , and by setting up over a dozen covert observation posts . Over the following years IRA violence in the city was contained to the point where it was possible to believe ' the war was over ' in the area , although there were still frequent street riots . Nationalists — even those who did not support the IRA — remained bitterly opposed to the army and to the state .