Think what u want of him but u only have to look back at his election to see how much support he had. Also on his funeral, the size of the turnout was larger that George Bests, "Ulsters favourite son!"
people may not agree with what bobby sands did or stood for but over the ages people across the world have had to carry out unpopular acts for the better good of their people. For instance the bombing of Berlin or Hiroshima. These are 2 extreme cases but just examples of what was acceptable in difficult times.