Several hundred people took part in an Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) commemoration in Derry this afternoon to mark the 35th anniversary of the Long Kesh hunger strike.
A colour party, made up of nine men and women, headed a march from the former Rosemount Factory building through Creggan estate to the Republican Socialist plot in the City Cemetery.
The event coincided with the death of Derry INLA member, Mickey Devine, who died on 20 August 1981 after 60 days on the protest.
The was the last of the ten hunger strikers to die.
Speaking at the gravesides of the 27-year-old and his fellow Derry INLA hunger striker, Patsy O’Hara, Michael Kelly, a senior member of the IRSP in Belfast, said the fight for Irish freedom would go on.
He said: “Sadly the political objectives for which the men of 1981 went to prison for have never been realised but that does not mean that their political dreams should be dropped or forgotten about.
“They were noble and honourable goals that we, as republicans and republican socialists, should never lose sight of.
“We must continually remind ourselves of the politics of our martyred dead and the sacrifice they made in the battle to achieve them.”
Mr Kelly added: “As we stand here today we remain mindful of the struggle for national liberation and socialism.
“It is not enough to talk of romantic republicanism and expect the people to follow.
“Our political philosophy must be grounded in the day to day struggles of Ireland’s working class and that is what we are attempting to do.
“We struggle not only for this generation but for the future generations to come for we want to pass onto them a world built on the finest values of the working class.
“The values of fraternity, liberty and equality.
“Bobby, Francis, Ray, Patsy, Joe, Kieran, Kevin, Thomas, Martin and Mickey died for that better world.
“It is with pride that we remember them and in spreading the divine gospel of discontent with the firm belief that their ideals and dreams live on in the current generation of republicans.”
Mr Kelly concluded: “Friends, comrades and fellow workers, in the words of Patsy O’Hara: ‘let the fight go on’.”
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