End of 1981 Irish Hunger Strike

Date: October 3, 1981 • Location: Hillsborough, United Kingdom

A hunger strike by Irish republican prisoners at HM Prison Maze outside Belfast, Northern Ireland, ended after seven months and ten deaths.

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.