Bobby Sands who was the leader of a 1981 hunger strike in which the Irish Republican protested the removal of Special Category Status- was born on this day in 1954. Sands held the world’s attention in 1981. Sands began refusing food on March 1, 1981.

The hunger strike centred on five demands:

1. the right not to wear a prison uniform;
2. the right not to do prison work;
3. the right of free association with other prisoners, and to organise educational and recreational pursuits;
4. the right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week;
5. full restoration of remission lost through the protest

Bobby Sands died 66 days into his hunger strike on May 5th, 1981. The announcement of Sands death prompted several days of rioting in Northern Ireland. 100,000 people would line the route of Sands funeral.