The Troubles republican prisoners led to more than 500 of them in the Maze prison initiating the "blanket" and "dirty" protests. Their protests culminated in hunger strikes in 1980 and 1981, aimed at the restoration of political status, as well as other concessions. In the 1981 Irish hunger strike, ten republican prisoners (seven from the Provisional IRA and three from the INLA) died of starvation. The first hunger striker to die, Bobby Sands, was elected to Parliament on an Anti-H-Block ticket, as was his election agent Owen Carron following Sands' death. The hunger strikes resonated among many nationalists; over 100,000 people attended
Michael Devine (hunger striker) prison. He joined the blanket protest before joining the hunger strike. Devine participated in a brief hunger strike in 1980, which was called off without fatalities. On 22 June 1981, Devine joined the 1981 hunger strike at the Maze Prison. He died on 20 August, the tenth and last of the hunger strikers to die. Michael Devine (hunger striker) Michael James "Mickey" Devine (26 May 1954–20 August 1981) was an Irish founding member of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). He died in prison during the 1981 Irish hunger strike. Devine, also known as ""Red Mickey"" because of his red