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
Hunger Strike! Inc. Hunger Strike! Inc. Hunger Strike! Inc. was a charitable 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provided medical, health, education, and financial services. It commenced operations in 1988 as a group that fed and clothed the homeless in the Washington, D.C. area. In 1990, it was formally incorporated. The operations later expanded to Maryland, Virginia, and Florida. In 1993, the organization began offering free physical assessments and free seminars on "Health, Nutrition, and Natural Remedies". These seminars were conducted in the United States, India, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Denmark. Invitations were extended from Romania and Pakistan. In India and Sri Lanka, Hunger Strike!