Hunger Strikers are being remembered across the country as marches take place in Belfast to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strike.
Former prisoners clad in blankets lead the parade through Belfast today.
The strike began on the first of March, 1981. The following day, the Dirty Protest in the H-Block was called off to direct all political and media attention towards ‘An Stailc Ocrais’.
Ten Irish Republican volunteers fought until the very end during the summer months of 1981; Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Raymond McCreesh, Patsy O’Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Tom McIlwee, and Mickey Devine.
These ten names are etched into Irish history as the men who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
In April 1981, after six weeks without food, Bobby Sands was elected as a Member of Parliament.
Despite the election result and pressure from the media, Ireland and abroad, Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister, refused to enter into negotiations with the political prisoners.
Their level of determination can be summed up by Sands’ quotation from the Bible; “Greater Love Than This Hath No Man, Than that he Lay Down His Life for his Friend”.
To learn more you can visit Irishhungerstrike.com
by Elaine Mc Callig