Bobby Sands (Robert Gerard Sands - Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh) was born on 9th March 1954 in Dunmurry, County Antrim. He was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike in HM Prison Maze (Long Kesh) in which Irish republican prisoners protested against the removal of Special Category Status. He died as a result of the hunger strike on 5th May 1981.

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Following Sands’ success the British Government introduced the Representation of the People Act 1981, which prevented prisoners serving jail terms of more than one year in either the UK or the Republic of Ireland from being nominated as candidates in UK elections. This law was quickly introduced so in order to prevent the other hunger strikers from being elected to the British parliament. 2/2

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On 9th April 1981 Robert Gerard "Bobby" Sands (Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh) was elected to Westminster in the Fermanagh/South Tyrone by-election, while on hunger strike in Long Kesh Prison, as MP for the constituency. 1/2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe-RCtQGy2A

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The 1981 Irish Republican hunger strike started with Bobby Sands refusing food on 1st March 1981.

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They went on strike for five demands:

1. the right not to wear the prison uniform;

2. the right not to do prison work;

3. the right of free association with other prisoners, and to organise educational and recreational pursuits;

4. the right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week;

5. full restoration of remission lost during the protest.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/timeline-of-the-1980-hunger-strike-1.2468633

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The 1980 Republican hunger strike at Long Kesh Prison, and other prisons in Northern Ireland, which had happened on 27th October 1980 was called off on 18th December 1980. This was following the appeal by Catholic Primate of Ireland, Tomás Ó Fiaich, on 17 December 1980. The strike had lasted for 53 days.

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