Bobby Sands | Hunger Strike | Political Prisoner | Northern Ireland | The troubles | TV Eye | 1981

'TV Eye' is in Northern Ireland as Hunger Striker Bobby Sands enters the 61st day of his hunger strike campaign, and how would his death affect politics and communities on both side of the divide.
Reporter: Peter Gill
First shown: 30/04/1981
To license a clip please e mail: [e-mail]
Quote: VT24702

[@zeroconsequences]

Got flashbacks of watching World At War with that Thames opener. What a show.

[@shannonglass7316]

RIP Bobby Sands. Ur a HERO of Ireland 🇮🇪

[@Shinobi33]

He died for nothing. Suicide is a sin what good Catholic kills himself?

[@Didyeaye404]

He's the vegan poster boy. Clowns the lot of yous.

[@markmullen6458]

A man of principle, God knows its a changed world but I often doubt for the better🫡

[@Neil-Aspinall]

Unbelievably, now you can get a tourist bus through the Troubles in Belfast like it's part of a Theme Park?

[@Shinobi33]

It's a crazy 🌎

[@angelalogan3637]

That's so sad...

[@Dusty2455433]

tbh as a tourist with ancestry but ignorant to the history of Ireland recently, the black taxi tour was one of the best parts of the trip. I had no idea the extent of the division that is still there and learning the fact to this day the gate closes every night was pretty eye opening

[@kevinpryor5654]

RIP Francis Hughes

[@bapples]

12:39 McMichael assassinated Dec 22, 1987

[@whichsideruonsaoirse8656]

The narrator repeating the big lie that the British state was "in the middle" between two warring factions. The truth was, is and always will be that the British state was a protagonist in a war to enforce British occupation of part of Ireland

[@billslim1112]

There is no one truth, surely after all these years you can see that now. There was no right or wrong party. Of course the British wanted to keep a Northern Ireland in the UK, but their main goal was first and foremost ending the violence and resolving the issue peacefully. If they really were the “protagonist in a war” then why did they punish and prosecute the Loyalist Para-military organisations just as much as they did the nationalists?

[@arthurgoodness7865]

@@billslim1112 if the British genuinely wanted to end the violence in Northern Ireland, then this could have been achieved as early as 1972. The republicans sat down with the British but no resolution could be found. Both sides blamed the other. But it has been well documented that the British wanted to defeat the republicans militarily. They wanted to put an end to the republican threat of violence once and for all. There is no denying that the British played both sides. They had high level agents in both camps. They allowed certain events/atrocities to happen. They protected some of their high level agents by allowing lower level informants to be killed. Handlers passed on information/targets to their agents. They protected agents, even when they were aware that some of these agents were directly involved in the murder of innocent people. They left innocent people in prison even when the identities of the actual perpetrators were known. Even today the British Government continue to hide behind “national security “ when they have received requests for documents/information on atrocities committed during the troubles. The war is over, the GFA is in place, what would be the threat to national security now in relation to some of the atrocities that happened 50 year’s ago? There may be no one truth, but the British Government and its security forces played a key role in the murder of 100’s of innocent people in Northern Ireland and in England during the troubles.

[@donharrington7433]

​@@billslim1112 that's bollocks. The brits were the instigators. Just Google the brits MRF and what they did

[@billymcdonald1040]

Yea and who asked them to come in

[@arthurgoodness7865]

I think if the British government could have this time again, they would change their stance and allow the prisoners their demands. It probably would have saved many lives, not just the hunger strikers, and opened the door for constructive dialogue.

[@OlafProt]

Thatcher was happy to let those boys die. Whether it was their choice or coercion, she held the key. The murderous harridan.

[@pit_stop77]

We're talking about the tories, they didn't give a toss then, like they don't now

[@pm3577]

Absolute bollocks mate. You obviously weren’t there. Bobby died and a nation rejoiced.

[@ropaul8006]

​@P M nah they are now the majority

[@billslim1112]

Nah if the British government had this time again nothing would have changed. It’s not a case of them deciding to give into the demands or not, they had no choice but to do nothing because if they gave any concession to the nationalists then it would only serve to antagonise the unionists

[@markmclaughlin3896]

Thatcher your name rots in my mind.

[@ricardohighlander1984]

maggie thatcher Sucks..!!

[@silviastraffi7178]

Rest in peace Bobby respect from the Italy

[@thomsboys77]

😂😂😂😂

[@silviastraffi7178]

@@thomsboys77 fxxxx

[@JoeCarroll-tr5hw]

Stop 🛑 mass immigration,

[@garethroblyn]

Brave brave man

[@craig7248]

RIP soldier. Huge respect, from England 🇮🇪

[@kevinpatton8228]

I AM STANDING ON THE THRESHOLD OF ANOTHER TREMBLING WORLD MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON MY SOUL. OUR REVENGE WILL BE THE LAUGHTER OF OUR CHILDREN GOD BLESS BOBBY SANDS AND ALL HIS FALLEN COMRADES 🍀☘️🇮🇪

[@ashtonsands1965]

That’s my distant cousin.

[@addybuck1]

Respect to every man that died fighting to get the Brits out of Ireland.

[@Freedom-hv3vm]

What are you talking about. The soldiers were still here, 20 years after he died

[@pit_stop77]

I remember this well. I was living in the Republic at the time

[@Bruinsman-rh2dc]

I was born in 2000 so I’m just curious about these times. Did you support Bobby ? What about other people in the community ?

[@ThisIsMyRodrick]

@@Bruinsman-rh2dc Regardless of what u think of the IRA. Most Irish supported Bobby Sands, a national hero who died for justice and his rights. A very brave man, who never surrendered.

[@hendo337]

How are you shot 7 times and then speaking on Friday May 1st 1981, it wasn't "Last January", it was Jan 15th 1981, a now claimed, 9 times, while under the surveillance of the English Army who supposedly let the Loyalists shoot her and rather than making sure the job was done, to cover up their misdeeds, the best medical attention available in 1981 had her on her feet in front of a crowd speaking 15 weeks later, alive. The claim that MP Sands only drank water in 6 weeks is without a doubt, an absolute lie, if one were to go 2 weeks with only water they would find themselves in hypotension, one would have to at the very least eat salt. People were just supposed to be gullible back then and listen to Thames and believe them. The people at the prison were so cruel and selfish they wouldn't capitulate H block's demands, however they weren't cruel enough to grab these men and force feed them through a tube and give them IV fluids to prevent a PR nightmare? Bobby Sands is not even dead. He is a Judge in Tennessee now. Sands was an MP from Dunmurry, now he is a Judge in Maury County. He was a spook the entire time, this was a psyop.

[@hendo337]

@1:22 you can clearly see Oliver relaying an emotional personal recollection of visiting his brother...and he had to read it off a cue card with his eyes going back and forth.

[@Maxsarkar]

much respect from India❤‍🩹

[@georgebrowne5935]

The Bravest Men that ever Lived.

[@clivesproule2342]

Silliest bastard that never ate.

[@Didyeaye404]

He was scared of a slice of toast 😂😂😂

[@billslim1112]

Braver than Jesus? That’s a bit of a stretch

[@georgebrowne5935]

@billslim1112 Jesus knew he was going to be resurrected in three day's after his forced cruel death. The Hunger Striker's sacrificed themselves for their Comrades, against the cruel conditions in a foreign Colonial Jail. (A slow painful Death) Even the Loyalist Prisoners realised this.

[@Didyeaye404]

Suicide isn't brave ahahahahahahahaha

[@PatrickVleugels-eu6ou]

Give Ireland back to the Irish people. Loyalist must move . Our day will come. Tiocfaidh ár lá .

[@homeworld1765]

I guess the Republic of Ireland doesn't exist

[@bfcrangers5411]

Dream on

[@LouisMenotti]

You want them to up and move? And you feel dignified saying that? You sound like an IDF general.

[@Freedom-hv3vm]

Let Northern Ireland be independent

[@i.marr.6688]

The loyalists wanted political status and the same demands the IRA were looking for , the loyalist Prisoners just didn't do what the republican did

[@rassawhelan6045]

their leadership stopped them going on the blanket as it was seen as supporting the provisionals campaign.

[@markmullen6458]

Law abiding, collusion rife handed arms to take out civilians, Miami show band, Any one of these hero's had more back bone than the so called British state, ironically it's no longer a state Wales, Scotland want independence eventually, our demands might not be met bit will eventually be inevitable

[@mra682]

Reminds me of what Palestinian people are going thru.. Being held in detention without trial or any date of release

[@Freedom-hv3vm]

Blame hamas

[@mra682]

@@Freedom-hv3vm that's what the Germans said about the resistance during their occupation of France and Holland during WW2. Educate yourself. Look up what happened prior to hamas

[@Freedom-hv3vm]

@mra682 Accept the French didn't mass murder innocent people at music festivals. So please make excuses for them

[@frankgarrett242]

Winner, winner chicken dinner!

[@DanChad-er9lh]

From Wales

[@Mgee522]

I'm a black man and have 100% support for Mr Sands,Che,Malcolm X,Tupac and many more with the heart to Die for what they believe and for peace 4 the ones that suffer at the hands of the devil's disciples that can't be touched.. it's such a shit world when we are ruled by evil humans.

[@Yeooooo_1]

Would he like to try a cheeseburger by any chance or maybe peas

[@loyalloyal4442]

I’d love to have wee Bernadettes dentist 😂

[@jacquiewalton1996]

@loyalloyal4442 1 month ago I’d love to have wee Bernadettes dentist *What's stopping you* ? ..*doesn't your giro stretch that far* ?

[@hendo337]

Probably her father in-law Saul Alinski, McAlinski is the fakest name I ever heard, you really should want her doctor, not shot "7 times last January" as they claim here, this is May 1st 1981(Communist May Day) it was 9 times Jan 15th 1981, so those Republicans and English soldiers all failed to kill a wee woman, let her make it to a hospital alive and she's up walking and giving speeches with 1981 healthcare no less. This whole thing was a psyop.

[@TheDiscoz3]

The poor wee other unfortunate starving men who died. Bobby's name will be remembered as it has been, how many remember those who followed him? Does anyone really give a shit for them?

[@chocolatetownforever7537]

Very true.

[@xocsm_]

Of course they do?! Have you lot been to Republican neighbourhoods in the North?

[@malachymulhall8012]

Who is this armature?

[@liamkeane9159]

Wat wud bobby think of the North of today

[@Kiers80]

Loyalist prisoners got the same concessions because of the hunger strikers and rightly so

[@dinomader2211]

It didn't shake Englands will!!

[@billymcdonald1040]

Well Bernadette was wrong

[@bradychadwick6093]

Before Bobby Sands, Henry Blogg led the way oposing Anglican totalitarian religious extremisim.

[@markmullen6458]

The years of thatcher and Balfour live on in the brutality of the treatment of the genocidal action of the dying British state, if your a decent human being never let them leave there actions and inactions down

[@markmullen6458]

Balfour took the same methods to the Palestinians and now we are seeing with our own eyes nothing bit contempt for those who date stand against, murdering Kids and Women should tell yee all you need to know😢

[@billymcdonald1040]

Loyalists had no need to

[@loyalloyal4442]

Bobby “chicken supper” Sands 😂😂

[@rassawhelan6045]

Yawn.

[@jacquiewalton1996]

@loyalloyal4442 John Toner Sun 31 Dec 2023 at 07:00 Ex-UDA kingpin Johnny Adair believes the IRA were the most effective “guerrilla army” of all time and admitted he wouldn’t have the courage of the Hunger Strikers. Convicted terror chief Adair (60) has also fondly remembered narrowly escaping jail with his nipples intact after a prison officer attempted to remove his jewellery with a hacksaw. Speaking to career criminal and anti-Islam hate preacher Tommy Robinson on his podcast, Adair was full of praise for his deadly enemies of the past and revealed he would have refused to go on hunger strike for his cause. Robinson says: “I’ve seen the IRA described as the best guerrilla warfare army there has ever been”, to which Adair says: “And they were, that’s a fact and I’m not scared to say that, I’ll not tell a lie, of course they were. “Their bombmaking technology was a step ahead of the British Army, the army tried to keep ahead of them and the IRA was always in front. “Even the Hunger Strikers, I grudgingly respect them men too, they starved themselves to death for a political cause, dedication at the highest level “Now I’m dedicated, and I knew one day I could lose my life and the IRA would get me, and I accepted that because I didn’t know what day it would be. “These hunger strikers, death was staring themmuns in the face for 60-odd days. If I was asked to give my life on hunger strike? No I wouldn’t do it, I wouldn’t have been as brave to do that.

[@DJ-db1gr]

It's actually pastie supper......

[@nicholasromanov9457]

Read the roll of honour for irelands bravest men 🇮🇪🍀

[@265petsar]

Bobby and his mates must have been getting fish suppers in, how else could they shit all over the walls. Suppose it made them feel at home.

[@jackietreehorn5561]

That was the blanket protest before the hunger strike

[@Source98705]

I guess he didn’t want the cheeseburger

[@johnmcbride2073]

Did your mother want the vegetable that she gave birth to ?

[@mikaeljohansson9103]

Don't mess vhit an fri Sole

[@neskender]

Bobby Sands story remind me on young Serbian GAVRILO PRINCIP 1894 - 28 April 1918) was a Bosnian Serb student who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie, Duchess von Hohenberg, in Sarajevo on 28 June1914. The assassination gave Austria-Hungary the pretext it was looking for to launch hostilities against the Kingdom of Serbia and thus precipitated World War I.Austria-Ugary occupied Sarajevo,( which was then mostly inhabited by Serbs), as well as the entire Balkans, just as the British occupied Ireland. GAVRILO PRINCIP (17 years old)died for freedom, from hunger and torture in an Austrian prison. died in Austrian prison .Belfast is Ireland Kosovo is Serbia,we will rise again.

[@carlolapadula3953]

Thank you, I will look into GavriIo Princip because of what you wrote here.

[@neskender]

@@carlolapadula3953 He was young man eager for life but above all he wanted to live freely..Just like the Irish in Ireland..so he decided to assassinate the enslaver, Austrian emperor...

[@carlolapadula3953]

@@neskender I will keep looking into ut some more. So far, it seems not only that he wasn't working on his own, but maybe that the people who helped (or maybe even *used* ) him had more nefarious goals than just liberating a people. Of course, that does not change that oppression and occupation is evil. It also doesn't take away from the courage that it takes to stand up against a powerful regime. It just seems that back in the early 20th century, several parties stood to profit from a largescale escalation, and that GavriIo Princip's assignment played well into those parties' hands. It is said that chaos always favors the powerful, because with enough chaos, those without power will *embrace* a new leader who will "restore order", even if it comes in the form of *a new, even more oppressive* system.

[@neskender]

@@carlolapadula3953 you know.. after such big events, a hundred theories are created....I think the story is simple...a few young freedom fighters organized themselves...the power centers want to make a story that suits them and not allow young people to have the spirit of freedom and rebellion against the enslavers...

[@danieldavidisson9906]

Thank you. As an activist it drives me insane hearing how the assassination triggered WW1. It triggered nothing, it was used as a pretext, as was 9/11. I live in Australia, and there is no better example of the bewildering stupitidty, bordering on psychotic insanity of Anglo-Saxon Western populations, than a single instance of violence being considered acceptable justification for full-scale military action and the human carnage that is the result.

[@loyalloyal4442]

St James…😂full of dealers

[@jimmyjohnson7027]

Ah yes, Bobby Sands. Slimmer Of The Year, 1981.

[@METALLICARULES11]

He was just a terrorist who didnt like that he was being treated like a terrorist.

[@themsmloveswar3985]

If they observed the snouts in the trough that PSF eventually became, they would have asked for food.

[@Didyeaye404]

McDonald's McDonald's Kentucky fried chicken and a Pizza hutt

[@nigefal]

It was a great idea did not cost money, got loads of publicity and sympathy at the time. Leading to lots of votes. The problem is that SF cannot do that with all their candidates now they enjoy a good feed too much. And the problems for them now is not getting votes but they have to be seen to actually do something. But SF don't even enter Stormont for years and just use the Dail to talk about all the promises they would do if they were in power. SF are more about branding than anything else these days.

[@michaelsalt4565]

These hunger strikers were convicted terrorists, they chose to murder people rather than talk peace. If these terrorists wish to take their own lives I will shed no tears I have sympathy for their victims

[@Spookieham]

Bobby Sands did win Slimmer of the Year at least

[@PaulEcosse]

Oh move on, dear. 🙄

[@michaelsalt4565]

@@OlafProt I am half English Protestant and half Irish Catholic. My comments are viewed that terrorists of either side should not be glorified. These were horrible people who committed terrible crimes against both NI protestants and Catholics. That's the truth, no need for revisionism

[@arthurgoodness7865]

And on the 1st March 1981 most people on the island of Ireland would have agreed with you. But as the days and weeks passed and as more prisoners joined the hunger strike, people’s opinion did start to shift and sympathy towards the hunger strikers increased. People began to realise that these men were willing to sacrifice their lives for their 5 demands. Most people stopped seeing them as terrorists and instead shifted their anger towards the British government. This was a major own goal for the British government as they should never have allowed SF or the PIRA to benefit from this impasse. They allowed 10 convicted terrorists to become 10 republican martyrs and many young men and women joined the PIRA as a result of these men dying. The U.K. government ended up giving in to all of the prisoners demands in the end and they handed SF a political platform that they did not have before the hunger strikes.

[@OlafProt]

@@michaelsalt4565 blah blah. So what about your religion. Your rhetoric belongs back in those horrible days, and is the kind of rhetoric that drags this country backwards, towards those days, every single day. A country I doubt you have ever taken the time to visit and get to know.

[@liverpoolscottish6430]

COME ON BOBBY! EAT UP LAD, YOU'RE AT YOUR AUNTIES!

[@the_based_and_trad_protestant]

he never did try that Cheeseburger

[@johnkennedy4863]

The loyalist terrorists went on hunger strike for 1 week then gave up. Cowards.

[@johnkennedy4863]

Amazing how ira had such courage whilst loyalists were so cowardly

[@deborahcrumley8044]

Lads please stop, have some respect.. i was 6 when this happened, it was a really dark time.. honestly stop..

[@paddycaldwell3112]

That was a new one I don’t think we’ve heard that before,bet u thought you’d let a load of likes for it, even most of the loyalists of long kesh at the time respected these men that died for their beliefs. RIP to the 10 H-Block Martyrs🇨🇮THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE🇨🇮🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿TAL🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇨🇮

[@kevino4372]

Does anyone agree with Maggie?

[@user-ze8yy8jg1f]

Plenty do they are loyalists or upper class Londoners

[@rooster3265]

Most Americans.

[@dalebrennan7615]

Brave men eire 32 Dublin ireland