Carlow remembers the hunger strikers

Carlow Republican Sinn Féin held a very successful picket at the Liberty Tree 1798 monument in Carlow Town today (Saturday July 9) from 1.00pm to 2.30pm. The picket was held to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strike in the H Blocks of Long Kesh in which Bobby Sands and nine other Republican prisoners died. The picket was also to highlight the present campaign of the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry prison for the right to political status.

During the protest leaflets were distributed explaining about the protest in Maghaberry prison as well as the plight of veteran Republican Martin Corey who is at present interned without trial in Maghaberry prison where he has been held since April of last year.

The picket was addressed by the Athy based President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton who said that the events of 1981 were not merely a matter of history: “Today young Irishmen in Maghaberry prison are engaged in the same struggle against the same enemy on the same principle of political status. Like Bobby Sands and his comrades the present Republican prisoners are resisting the attempts of the British Government and its surrogate at Stormont to criminalise the historic and noble struggle for Irish freedom.”