17 July 2008 Edition

Resize: A A A Print

Graveside memories of Hunger Strikers

REMEMBRANCE: Ex-POWs and young republicans from Ógra Shinn Féin join members of the Doherty and McDonnell families in the wreath-laying ceremony at Milltown Cemetery

REMEMBRANCE: Ex-POWs and young republicans from Ógra Shinn Féin join members of the Doherty and McDonnell families in the wreath-laying ceremony at Milltown Cemetery

A GROUP of up to 50 Derry republicans was joined by relatives of Belfast Hunger Strikers Kieran Doherty and Joe McDonnell at the Republican Plot in Milltown Cemetery, Belfast, on Sunday, 13 July, for a ceremony commemorating the 1981 Hunger Strikers.
The Derry republicans who made the journey were former republican POWs, some of whom were on the Blanket Protest, and members of Ógra.
Before the ceremony in Milltown, the group had already visited the graves of Michael Devine and Patsy O’Hara in Derry. They then travelled to Kevin Lynch’s grave in Dungiven and then on to Bellaghy, where cousins Tom McElwee and Frank Hughes are buried in the village’s Republican Plot.
On leaving Belfast the group made their way to Camlough and the grave of Raymond McCreesh. Their last stop was in Galbally and the grave of Martin Hurson, whose 27th anniversary fell on Sunday, 13 July.

VISION
Speaking in Belfast, Séanna Walsh, a former H-Block prisoner, spoke of the vision contained in those famous lines of Bobby Sands:
“Let our revenge be the laughter of our children.”
Walsh said that, in the aftermath of the Hunger Strikes, he, like most prisoners, was angry and wanted revenge. However, it was the vision of Bobby’s words that motivates republicans now.
“We are out to create a better society in which our children can live in freedom, justice and peace.”

An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland