Pat McGeown

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Memorial plaque for McGeown at Sinn Féin's headquarters

Pat McGeown , also known as Beag McGeown , (born September 3, 1956 , † October 1, 1996 in Belfast , Northern Ireland ) was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who took part in the Irish hunger strike in 1981 .

background

McGeown joined the Fianna Éireann in 1970 , the youth organization of the IRA. First arrested at the age of 14, he was detained again in 1973 during Operation Demetrius in Long Kesh prison and held until 1974. In November 1975 he was arrested again for possession of explosives, carrying out an explosives attack on the Europa Hotel in Belfast and for membership in the IRA. At his trial in 1976, he was sentenced to five years in prison for membership in the IRA and two 15-year prison sentences for possession of explosives and a bomb attack. He was imprisoned in the Long Kesh prison camp under special category status . In March 1978, he tried to escape, dressed like a prison guard, with Brendan McFarlane and Larry Marley. The attempt to escape failed, he received another six months' imprisonment and lost special category status .

Prisoner protest

McGeown took part in the Blanket Protest and Dirty Protest at Maze Prison , Long Kesh's renamed camp , in the H blocks , where paramilitary prisoners tried to regain the special category status that they had been denied since 1976. McGeown described the conditions in the prison during the Dirty Protest as a form of protest in which prisoners would not leave their prison cells for fear of abuse, relieved themselves there and then smeared the walls of the cells with it in distress:

"There were times when you would vomit. There were times when you were so run down that you would lie for days and not do anything with the maggots crawling all over you. The rain would be coming in the window and you would be lying there with the maggots all over the place. "

“There were times when you wanted to vomit. There were times when you were desperate and you wanted to lie there all day and not have anything to do with the crawling flies. The rain should come through the windows and wash away the flies. "

Towards the end of 1980, the Dirty Protest escalated because their demands were not accepted, and seven prisoners went on a 35-day hunger strike to restore that political status, which included the demands known as the "Five Demands":

  • The right not to wear prison uniforms
  • The right to refuse prison labor
  • The right to freely communicate with other prisoners and to organize educational and recreational events
  • The right to one visit, one letter and one package per week
  • Complete remission of those involved in the strike.

This strike ended before any of the hunger strikers died, and previous political status was assured. When the prisoners finally realized that their demands had not been fully met, the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike began on March 1, 1981 , led by Bobby Sands , the prison's commanding IRA officer. McGeown went on strike on July 9th after Sands and four other prisoners died. Following the death of another five prisoners, McGeown's family authorized medical intervention after falling into a coma on August 20 , the 42nd day of his hunger strike .

freedom

McGeown was released from prison in 1985 and continued his active role in the IRA's campaigns and also worked for the Sinn Féin , the IRA's political wing. 1988 McGeown was arrested and charged that he did in organizing the killing of two corporals of the British Army have been involved by the IRA. At the beginning of the trial, his defense attorney, Pat Finucane , demanded an acquittal because McGeown could not prove the crime. McGeown and Finucane were photographed together outside the Crumlin Road Courthouse following their success , which resulted in Finucane being killed in an act of revenge by the Ulster Defense Association in February 1989 . McGeown was a member of Sinn Féin's Ard Chomhairle and active in the Prisoner of War Department ; In 1989 he was elected to Belfast City Council as a city councilor.

death

McGeown was found dead on October 1, 1996 after succumbing to a heart attack. Sinn Féin leader Mitchel McLaughlin said his death was "a great loss to Sinn Féin and the republican struggle". Sheehan suffered cardiac death as a result of participating in the hunger strike and was buried on the Republican Plot in Milltown Cemetery in Belfast. In 1998 the Pat McGeown Community Endeavor Award was presented by the President of Sinn Féin Gerry Adams , on the occasion of the award he described it as "a modest man with a quiet, but total dedication to equality and raising the standard of life for all the people of the city ​​”(a humble, calm man, but with total devotion to equality and the development of equal living conditions for the population). A McGeown plaque was unveiled on the outside of Sinn Féin's headquarters on Falls Road on November 24, 2001 and an area on Beechmount Avenue in Belfast commemorates McGeown, Kieran Nugent and Alec Comerford since March 3 2002.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Tírghrá . National Commemoration Center, 2002, ISBN 0-9542946-0-2 , pp. P. 366.
  2. ↑ a b Pat McGeown, Sinn Féin leader . In: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , October 5, 1996. 
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Pat McGeown joins H-Block almost . Phoblacht . July 13, 2006. Retrieved October 14, 2007.
  4. ^ A b Bishop, Patrick & Mallie, Eamonn: The Provisional IRA . Corgi Books, 1987, ISBN 0-552-13337-X , pp. 339.
  5. ^ The Provisional IRA, p. 352
  6. ↑ Peter Taylor : Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin . Bloomsbury Publishing , 1997, ISBN 0-7475-3818-2 , pp. 229-234.
  7. ^ A Chronology of Main Events . CAIN. Retrieved October 14, 2007.
  8. ↑ a b List of Dead and Other Hunger Strikers . CAIN. Retrieved October 14, 2007.
  9. ↑ a b c d Shawn Pogatchnik: Belfast award honors Pat McGeown . NewStandard . October 5, 1996. Retrieved October 14, 2007.
  10. ↑ a b Pat Finucane: A controversial killing . BBC . September 13, 2004. Retrieved October 14, 2007.
  11. ↑ Timeline of Finucane murder probe . BBC. September 23, 2004. Retrieved October 14, 2007.
  12. ^ Ed Moloney : UN to Seek Inquiry into Finucane Murder . Sunday Tribune . Retrieved October 14, 2007.
  13. ↑ Laura Friel: Female FRU operative named . Phoblacht . February 15, 2001. Retrieved October 14, 2007.
  14. ↑ a b Pat Beag remembered . Phoblacht . October 9, 1997. Retrieved October 14, 2007.
  15. ↑ John Hicks: HUNGER STRIKER THIS 15 YEARS AFTER PROTEST . Daily Mirror . October 3, 1996. Archived from the original on May 16, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 14, 2007. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.highbeam.com
  16. ↑ Laura Friel: Belfast award honors Pat McGeown . Phoblacht . September 4, 1998. Retrieved October 14, 2007.
  17. ^ Physical Memorials of The Troubles in West Belfast . CAIN. Retrieved October 14, 2007.
  18. ^ Pat McGeown Memorial . Phoblacht . November 22, 2001. Retrieved October 14, 2007.
  19. ↑ Laura Friel: Three heroes honored . Phoblacht . March 7, 2002. Retrieved October 14, 2007.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME McGeown, Pat
ALTERNATIVE NAMES McGeown, Beag
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Northern Irish hunger striker, member of the IRA
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd September 1956
DATE OF DEATH October 1, 1996
Place of death Belfast , Northern Ireland