Irish Examiner 05.April.1920 Hunger Strike Above: Crowds outside Mountjoy Jail cheering news of the granting of political status to the 104 republican hunger-strikers within in April 1920. (New York Times) & history Ireland

Prison Hunger Strike - Cork Examiner 05.April.1920

April 1920 started with the largest scale IRA activity to date in the War of Independence with the systematic targeting of abandoned RIC barracks and other buildings. It was a month during which the issue of Irish independence would be brought to an international audience, while it continued to be a time of terror in Ireland. The RIC remained the open target of the IRA, but on a number of occasions in April, the RIC would claim victory. Elsewhere, land-related issues continued to flare as anarchy set in across the country. In early April 1920 IRA prisoners, some held with a charge for over six weeks, began to formulate a plan to carry out a hunger strike in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin where they demanded prisoner of war status. ‘Great excitement’ reigned in Dublin on Monday night 5 April when it was learned that the hunger strike had commenced. The previous Thursday the prisoners, all held in one wing started to destroy all the furniture and fittings in the cells, and in a number of instances, the walls of cells were broken allowing prisoners to mix together. Although handcuffed it did not deter them from wreaking havoc on the building.  In total about 100 prisoners held under the Defence of the Realm Act commenced a hunger strike, refusing food.  Crowds of sympathisers have gathered outside the prison and have started to sing songs in an effort to help the prisoners during their hunger strike The hunger strike would last for two weeks as the crowds began to mass in huge numbers outside the prison. Led by members of Cummann a Mban an estimated crowd of 20,000 people gathered. A general labour strike commenced across the country before the British government was forced to back down and released the hunger strikers.

Download Source: Irish Examiner, 7 April 1920; Page: 5;

Irish Examiner 05.April.1920 Hunger Strike