H-Block men resist attempts to demoralise and degrade them
THE joint announcement from the H-Blocks and Armagh Jail on
Thursday 5 February of new Hunger Strikes commencing from 1 March
coincided with a Westminster statement by direct ruler Humphrey
Atkins in which he reiterated the British Government's inflexible
position.
That public declaration of stubborness was backed up by the
action of prison warders at Long Kesh who assaulted, in some
cases for the third time in as many weeks, over 70 of those
blanket men who a fortnight ago smashed up cell furniture in a
fit of frustration.
Atkins had been due to make an announcement on the prisons on
Wednesday 4 February but suddenly postponed his statement until
Thursday, perhaps awaiting confirmation of strong media
speculation that a Hunger Strike announcement was imminent.
The Hunger Strike was announced on Thursday, but no satisfactory
explanation has been made for Atkins' 24-hour postponement, since
what he said on Thursday was presumably no different from what he
had to say on Wednesday and thus would have had no bearing on the
prisoners' decision.
In his Westminster statement Atkins has, in effect, again
publicly repudiated his statement of Friday 19 December (which
was delivered to seven hunger strikers and the republican OC of
the H-Blocks, Bobby Sands) on Thursday 18 December, the day the
hunger strike ended.
In his 19 December statement, Atkins said that the blanket men
would be given their own clothes before being supplied with
prison-issue clothing.
In his statement on 9 January, Atkins reversed the order in which
the men would get their clothes - that is they must wear prison
issue clothing first before getting in their own clothes.
Attempting to get over this obstacle, 20 prisoners who took part
in the recent pilot scheme applied on 23 January for their own
clothes at 4.30pm, on a Friday afternoon when prisoners do not
wear their own clothes. Had the Brits been sincerely interested
in settling the H-Block crisis then this was an obvious
opportunity to do so.
But instead they refused the men their own clothes and demanded
`strict conformity'. It was frustration at this stumbling block
which culminated in the prisoners smashing up their cell
furniture.
Phoblacht, 14 February 1981
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