Six of the hunger-strikers are named and their paramilitary associations given: B. Sands (PIRA), R. McCreesh (PIRA), J. McDonnell (PIRA), F. Hughes (PIRA), P. O’Hara (INLA), M. Hurson (PIRA).
A prisoner on the blanket stands in front of a brown “H”. On the right hand side, a fist clutches a strand of barbed wire. There are also hunger strikers’ names on the gable wall to the left. Fahan Street, Derry. For the mural on the background-left wall, see IRA (P).
This is not Derry or Belfast but the Bobby Sands’ Sinn Féin Centre in Enniskillen, county Fermanagh. To the left is a lark in barbed wire with the words “Towards liberty”.
Here is a 1982 image of the Break Thatcher’s Back mural in Rockmore Road, Belfast, showing a blanket man with outstretched arms demanding “status now”, framed by a large “H” and surrounded by barbed wire, Tricolours, and the Starry Plough. In 1981, there was a Sean O’Casey quote on the left, rather than a lily and the year of the Easter Rising — 1916. “Free Belfast” in the top left.
On the left, a Bible quote — “No greater love hath a man than he lays down his life for his friends.” [John 15:13] — and The 5 Demands — No prison uniform, no prison work, free association, letters, visits, etc., full remission — with the oak leaf and crossed rifles of the Derry Brigade Provisional IRA in between.
On the right, Starry Plough, fractured “H”, and Irish Tricolour are linked by barbed wire. With posters above for hunger-strikers Pat Sheehan, Jackie McMullan, [Hugh] Gerry Carville, who all ended their strikes when October 3rd, 1981, when the strike was ended.
A lark in barbed wire, a republican symbol of political prisoners from Bobby Sands — the lark has the spirit of freedom and refuses to sing when caged, no matter how bad the treatment meted out. Rossville Street, Derry. For this mural in 1981, see Resistance.
A phoenix rises from a pair of disembodied hands tearing apart an “H” made of brick, illustrating the lines “and then I prayed I yet might see/our fetters rent in twain/and Ireland long a province be/a nation once again”. Also with the lark in barbed wire, four provinces, and names of six hunger strikers: Bobby Sands MP, Francis Hughes, Ray McCreesh, Patsy O’Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson. Falls Road in Andersonstown, Belfast.
This mural features an unusual representation of Ireland divided into its four provinces. Also seen: Irish Tricolour and Sunburst flags sticking out of the island and the lark in barbed wire. Clonard Street, Belfast