Éirígí Marks Bobby Sands 40th Anniversary With Dublin Vigil - Announces Additional Vigil On August 20th
Éirígí For A New Republic activists marked the 40th anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands with a black flag vigil on Dublin’s O’Connell Bridge on Wednesday (May 5). Participants held large black flags interspersed with images of the ten young men who died on hunger strike in 1981.
It is now twelve years since Éirígí first remembered the hunger strikers with a May 5th black flag vigil on O’Connell Bridge back in 2009 - making it one of the most sustained. Each year (with the exception of last year due to Covid-19) Éirígí activists and supporters from across Ireland have come together to remember not only Bobby Sands, but also each of the other nine young men who gave their lives in 1981 to defend the republican struggle from the charge of criminality.
Each of the ten - Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Raymond McCreesh, Patsy O’Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Tom McElwee and Mickey Devine - faced the same herculean task on every day of their individual hunger strikes. Each day they suppressed the most basic desire to gain sustenance and in doing so, knowingly took another step towards their own deaths.
Such determination could only have come from the deepest ideological belief in the republican struggle for libery over oppression - for equality over discrimination - for community over individual - for democracy over tyranny. The Ten will never be forgotten. Their fight for a new all-Ireland Republic continues today.
Given the Covid restrictions that were in place last Wednesday, Éirígí was unable to publicise and mobilise in the usual way for the annual May 5th vigil. As a result many people who might otherwise have attended the event were unable to do so.
For this reason, Éirígí is now organising another back flag vigil for 6pm on Friday, August 20th, 2021. This date coincides with the 40th anniversary of the death of Mickey Devine - the last of the ten hunger strikers to die. It is hoped that all Covid restrictions will be lifted by this date, allowing people from across Ireland to freely gather to remember the 1981 hunger strikers. This event will be open to all with flags and posters provided on the day, so please spread the word and come along.