The H-Blocks at Long Kesh where the 1980/81 hunger strikes took place.
Despite being on hunger strike for 53 days, Raymond McCartney was still on his feet when he received word that the prison fast was at an end,
writes Sean McLaughlin.
The Derry man, like his fellow hunger strikers, believed an offer of compromise had been made by the British government on the prisoners’ demands for special category status.
News of the protest’s end, says the retired Sinn Féin politician, was, initially, met with a mixture of relief, confusion, excitement and, later, frustration, disillusionment and anger.
1980... Raymond McCartney during the hunger strike.