Hunger Strikes and Escape
McFarlane attempted to escape from the Maze Prison dressed as a priest in 1978. When the bid failed, McFarlane’s Special Category Status was withdrawn, and he joined the dirty protest in the H-blocks.
His nickname "Bik" was acquired due to his habit of taking down notes during IRA meetings inside the Maze. Fellow prisoner and author of Blanketmen: An Untold Story of the H-Block Hunger Strike, Richard O'Rawe described McFarlane as "six feet tall and full of bonhomie", a "great singer" possessing a "striking character". O'Rawe also maintained that McFarlane was an avid supporter of Gaelic football.
He was Provisional IRA Officer Commanding in the Maze during the 1981 Irish hunger strike in which 10 republicans died. He took over from Bobby Sands in March 1981. Asked why, Sands is said to have replied: “Because you will let me die.” He later described 1981 as, "probably the worst year of my life. Despite the political gains, the loss of that year is always with me."
McFarlane went on to lead the Maze Prison escape, the mass breakout of 38 republican prisoners from the Maze in 1983 in which a prison officer died of a heart attack. Fifteen IRA men were caught in the vicinity of the prison, four were captured later that day, 19 got away, with three never being recaptured. Immediately following the escape, McFarlane and other prisoners commandeered a remote farmhouse near Dromore, County Down and held the family inside hostage. Although he took a map and compass, and other items from the premises, none of the family members, which included two small children and a baby, were harmed. He and the other former escapees made their way across the Republic of Ireland border and went on the run.
Read more about this topic: Brendan Mc Farlane, Maze Prison
Famous quotes containing the words hunger, strikes and/or escape:
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