The Blanket Protest (1976-1981) is a term for a form of pacifist protest adopted by Republican prisoners (IRA and INLA) during the Troubles in Northern Ireland (1969-1998). This protest consisted in refusing the prison uniform and living naked or wrapped in a blanket… This struggle lasted several years, and took place in Long Kesh prison.
The Blanket Protest
It’s at Long Kesh prison that the fight takes place: since 1971, the British government has imprisoned without trial any Catholic suspected of pro-Republican activism. The latter are crammed into H-Blocks (H-shaped cells), and detained for sometimes indefinite sentences.
Faced with these summary imprisonments (which do not respect the Convention on Human Rights), the prisoners want to take part in the struggle and demand that their status be changed from simple prisoner to political prisoner… The advantages of political prisoner status included the right to :
The Blanket Protest began on September 14, 1976, when Kieran Nugent, a prisoner who had just arrived at Long Kesh, flatly refused to put on his prison uniform. The latter is then beaten, but nothing convinces him to abide by the rules. He decided to remain naked, or to wrap himself in a blanket in cold weather, for the duration of his detention, until he was granted political prisoner status…
Many prisoners imitated him, and lived for long months (then years) dressed in blankets… The ambient cold, and the precariousness of this action for the prisoners, should have raised international awareness of the British government’s actions… Unfortunately, this movement had little effect, and did not enable them to obtain this change of status… despite several years spent wrapped up in blankets, without clothes or heating…
That’s why the Blanket Protest gave way to the Dirty Protest, another protest movement, also known as the “Hygiene Strike”…
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