Death of Bobby Sands

Date: May 5, 1981 • Location: Hillsborough, United Kingdom

After a 66-day hunger strike, Irish republican Bobby Sands died of starvation in HM Prison Maze.

A five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland culminated in a hunger strike in 1981. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976 when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners.