Sands helped to plan the 1976 Balmoral Furniture Company bombing in Dunmurry, which was followed by a gun battle with the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

International media coverage brought attention to the hunger strikers, and the republican movement in general, attracting both praise and criticism.

By 1966, sectarian violence in Rathcoole, along with the rest of the Belfast metropolitan area, had considerably worsened, and the minority Catholic population there found itself under siege.

[14] He was eventually confronted after leaving his shift in January 1971 by a number of his coworkers wearing the armbands of the local Ulster loyalist tartan gang.

As an initiation, he asked Sands to transport a gun from Rathcoole to Glengormley because the local IRA volunteer who was supposed to do the job had failed to show up.

[16] This is when Bobby's involvement with the IRA began in earnest, according to O'Hearn: Sands soon recruited some of his mates into a small auxiliary unit of about six or seven volunteers.

As I stepped out of the van on arrival there they grabbed me from all sides and began punching and kicking me to the ground ... they dragged me by the hair across a stretch of hard core rubble to the gate of the punishment block.

"[26] While in prison, Sands had several letters and articles published in the Republican paper An Phoblacht under the pseudonym "Marcella" (his sister's name).

[29] The song itself is about the penal transportation of Irishmen in the 19th century to Van Diemen's Land (modern day Tasmania, Australia).

Shortly before Sands's death, The Washington Post reported that the primary aim of the hunger strike was to generate international publicity.

[31] Shortly after the beginning of the strike, Frank Maguire, the Independent Republican Member of Parliament (MP) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, died suddenly of a heart attack, precipitating the April 1981 by-election.

[32] The sudden vacancy in a seat with a nationalist majority of about 5,000 was a valuable opportunity for Sands's supporters "to raise public consciousness".

After a highly polarised campaign, Sands narrowly won the seat on 9 April 1981, with 30,493 votes to 29,046 for the Ulster Unionist Party candidate Harry West.

[40] Sands became a martyr to Irish republicans,[41] and the announcement of his death prompted several days of rioting in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland.

More than 100,000 people lined the route of Sands's funeral from St. Luke's Catholic Church in Twinbrook, and he was buried in the 'New Republican Plot' alongside 76 others.

[42] In response to a question in the House of Commons on 5 May 1981, the UK Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher said, "Mr Sands was a convicted criminal.

[43] Cardinal Basil Hume, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, condemned Sands, describing the hunger strike as a form of violence.

Rangers' taunts have since been adopted by the travelling support of other UK clubs, particularly those with strong British nationalist ties, as a form of anti-Irish sentiment.

[46] The 1981 British Home Championship football tournament was cancelled following the refusal of teams from England and Wales to travel to Northern Ireland in the aftermath of his death, due to security concerns.

[48] In the Soviet Union, Pravda described it as "another tragic page in the grim chronicle of oppression, discrimination, terror, and violence"[47] in Ireland.

Many French towns and cities have streets named after Sands, including Nantes, Saint-Étienne, Le Mans,[49] Vierzon, and Saint-Denis.

[51] Over 1,000 people gathered in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral to hear Cardinal Terence Cooke offer a reconciliation Mass for Northern Ireland.

The latter would be viewed, in a reasonable world, not as a charismatic martyr but as a fanatical suicide, whose regrettable death provides no sufficient occasion for killing others".

Set up by the Irish Northern Aid Committee and local Irish-Americans, it stands in a traffic island known as Bobby Sands Circle at the bottom of Maple Avenue near Goodwin Park.

On the day of Sands's funeral, Unionist leader Ian Paisley held a memorial service outside Belfast City Hall to commemorate the victims of the IRA.

[51] In the Irish general election held the same year, two anti H-block candidates won seats on an abstentionist basis.

The death of Sands resulted in a new surge of IRA activity and an immediate escalation in the Troubles, with the group obtaining many more members and increasing its fund-raising capability.

[71] Sands's Westminster seat was taken by his election agent, Owen Carron, standing as 'Anti H-Block Proxy Political Prisoner' with an increased majority.

[74] The U.S. rock band Rage Against the Machine listed Sands as an inspiration in the sleeve notes of their self-titled debut album and as a "political hero" in media interviews.

received a €50,000 fine from UEFA over banners depicting Sands with a political message, which were displayed during a game on 26 November 2013[76] by Green Brigade fans.