Following the horrific sectarian murder of 15-year-old Michael McIlveen in Ballymena, Sinn Féin's Philip McGuigan has called on the DUP to state publicly that Catholics and nationalists are equal citizens and in line with the Good Friday Agreement entitled to live free from sectarian harassment and violence. "It's simply not enough to condemn sectarian violence when it occurs while maintaining the political and social context within which sectarianism takes place," said the North Antrim MLA. Free article

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has set out Sinn Féin's approach to the reconvened Six County Assembly saying he intends to nominate DUP leader Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness for the positions of First and Deputy First Ministers. Free article

On 12 May 1981 at 5.43 pm , just seven days after the death of Bobby Sands, Hunger Striker Francis Hughes died. The south Derry man had endured 59 days on Hunger Strike. His sisters Noreen, Maria and Vera and brother Roger were by his bedside when he passed away. Free article

Robert McBride, former political prisoner, leading member of the African National Congress, and currently Chief of Police for Johannesburg's East Rand District delivered the annual Bobby Sands Memorial Lecture in Belfast last Friday on the 25th anniversary of Sands' death. Robert McBride, former political prisoner, leading member of the African National Congress, and currently Chief of Police for Johannesburg's East Rand District delivered the annual Bobby Sands Memorial Lecture in Belfast last Friday on the 25th anniversary of Sands' death. Free article

Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane was Officer Commanding (O/C) the H-Block prisoners during the 1981 Hunger Strike. Last Friday, 5 May, on the 25th anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands, McFarlane spoke to An Phoblacht's ELLA O'DWYER about the journey that brought him to undertake one of the most difficult challenges ever faced by an Irish republican. Free article