The Hunger Strike

Overview

The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during “the Troubles” by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners. In 1978, after a number of attacks on prisoners leaving their cells to “slop out”, the dispute escalated into the dirty protest, where prisoners refused to leave their cells to wash and covered the walls of their cells with excrement. In 1980, seven prisoners participated in the first hunger strike, which ended after 53 days.

Details

Status

Released

Release date

June 28, 2006

Original language

English

Spoken languages

English

Director

Margo Harkin

Writer

Margo Harkin

Budget

Not recorded

Revenue

Not recorded

IMDb

tt1202179