Hunger Strike 35th anniversary picket by ex-prisoners and internees

THE 35th anniversary of the beginning of the 1981 H-Blocks Hunger Strike, in which ten republican prisoners gave their lives in the successful struggle against Britain’s criminalisation policy, was marked by a white-line picket on Belfast’s Falls Road close to the famous Bobby Sands mural.

Among those taking part were Sinn Féin MLA Pat Sheehan (who spent 55 days on hunger strike), as well as former Blanketmen Fra McCann MLA, Robert McClenaghan and Michael Culbert, now the director of ex-prisoners’ organisation Coiste na nIarchimí.

Among the other Sinn Féin politicians to join the picket were Junior Minister Jennifer McCann, Rosie McCorley (who spent 9 years in Maghaberry Prison, Councillor Séanna  Walsh (former O/C IRA POws in the H-Blocks), and ex-internee Alex Maskey.