Thomas McElwee, Irish polictical prisoner, dies on hunger strike in Maze prison, Northern Ireland.
Thomas McElwee (30 November 1957 – 8 August 1981) was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer who participated in the 1981 hunger strike. From Bellaghy, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, he died at the age of 23 after 62 days on hunger strike.
Joe McDonnell, Irish political prisoner, dies
Joseph McDonnell (14 September 1951 – 8 July 1981) was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died during the 1981 Irish hunger strike.
Prisoners in Armagh and Long Kesh end their 53 day hunger strike on promises of political status. The promises are not kept
A hunger strike in 1980 was also undertaken by seven men in the H-Blocks and three women in Armagh Gaol, but it ended on 18 December after 53 days, without any gains for the prisoners.
Beginning of the Hunger Strike by seven Republican prisoners in the H Blocks at Long Kesh
The hunger strike begins on October 27, 1980, when seven Republican prisoners in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh (Maze Prison) refuse food in protest of the British government’s withdrawal of Special Category Status for paramilitary prisoners. Their demands include the right to wear their own clothes, avoid prison labor, and associate freely. They are later joined by three female prisoners in Armagh Prison, marking a unified protest across gender lines. This first hunger strike, though ended without deaths, set the stage for the more widely known 1981 hunger strike.