H Block P.O.W. Long Kesh

Illustration of a person's head with yellow hair and a light brown beard and mustache on a green background with black text along the top edge

This button refers to the 1981 Irish hunger strike that was the culmination of a five-year protest during The Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland.  Long Kesh Detention Centre, now known as Her Majesty’s Prison Maze, was a prison that was used to house paramilitary prisoners (mostly members of the IRA). One of the local names for the prison was the H Blocks and it was reportedly run like a prisoner of war camp. In the late 1970s, prisoners stages protests against their treatment and aimed to re-establish their political status by demanding certain rights, including the right to not wear a prison uniform. Their protests did not initially garner much attention, but in 1980, several prisoners volunteered to be part of a hunger strike. The second hunger strike began in 1981 when the IRA’s former commanding officer, Bobby Sands, refused food.  It was a showdown between the prisoners and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Bobby Sands was actually elected as a Member of Parliament during the strike, prompting media interest from around the world. Sands’ death on the 66^th day of his hunger strike prompted rioting in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland. The strike radicalized Irish nationalist politics and was the driving form that enabled Sinn Féin to become a mainstream political party.