Fontaines D.C., KNEECAP, Christy Moore and hundreds more sign letter calling for action over imprisoned hunger strikers

Fontaines D.C., KNEECAP and Christy Moore are among over 500 signatories of an open letter calling for immediate action over the imprisoned activists on hunger strike in solidarity with Palestine.

The letter, published by Irish Artists For Palestine, expressed solidarity with the strikers and demanded government officials in the UK and Ireland take action to meet the activists' demands.

"We believe this state repression is unfolding within a wider global crackdown and criminalisation of the Palestine solidarity movement," the letter read.

"Increasingly, artists, activists and other dissenting voices are being censored, silenced, or smeared with baseless 'terror' allegations as a means of suppressing political expression. These systemic and structural efforts to marginalise dissent affect all of us, not only those targeted at the moment."

The letter said the protest "demands urgent public attention" as it is the largest hunger strike in British prisons since the 1981 protest led by Irish republican prisoners in the north of Ireland during the Troubles. The 1981 strike led to the death by starvation of ten prisoners, including Bobby Sands.

"Their decision to place their bodies on the line is a profound act of resistance - one that echoes the long histories of both Irish and Palestinian political prisoners who have used hunger strike as a non-violent act of sacrifice to assert their dignity in the face of state violence and repression," the letter reads.

"Our solidarity with the hunger strikers is rooted in our broader commitment to freedom and justice for the Palestinian people who have faced seventy-eight years of occupation and over two years of genocide in Gaza."

Other signatories of the letter include The Pogues, Maverick Sabre, Sally Rooney, MayKay, Gurriers, Damien Dempsey, The Mary Wallopers, Clare Sands, Saint Sister, Nell Mescal, The Scratch, Pillow Queens, Le Boom, Esmerelda Road, BIIRD, Cardinals, DUG, Cliffords, Myles O'Reilly and Naoise Dolan.

Professional boxer Tyrone Mckenna, filmmaker Kathryn Ferguson and Caoimhe Butterly, activist and therapist who has written about on Gaza for Hot Press, were also among the signatories.

Huartan, who were also listed among the signatories, spoke out in support of the activists and compared them to the 1981 Irish hunger strikers earlier this week.

The hunger strikers are part of the Filton 24, a group of activists imprisoned without bail in the UK for their involvement in Palestine Action's August 2024 protests at an arms factory owned by RAF Brize Norton and Elbit Systems, Israel's largest weapons manufacturer.

Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK in July following the factory protest. Proscription made showing support for the direct action network a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Six of the imprisoned activists are entering their fifth week of hunger strike, with a seventh having joined last week. Their demands include an end to censorship of activists for Palestine, immediate bail and the right to a fair trial for all of the Filton 24, the shutdown of Elbit systems and the deproscription of Palestine Action.

According to Free the Filton 24, a campaign by the activists' friends and family, five of the hunger strikers have been hospitalised at various points during their imprisonment.