1000 march in Yorkshire in support of Jarrow march

700 strong march in Hull with Youth Fight for Jobs Jarrow Marchers and workers from BAE in Brough, photo by Paul Callanan (Click to enlarge)

Lies in today's national newspapers fail to dampen spirits

Flying in the face of misleading reports in three national newspapers that the march is 'fizzling out' around 1,000 people have marched in Yorkshire in support of the Jarrow march today.

Demonstrations took place in both Leeds and Hull. In Leeds delegations came from Manchester and Liverpool and the march was joined by many trade union banners as well as students from the universities and colleges in the town.

Importantly, the march refused to be intimidated by the threat of far right racist groups marching.

In Hull, the demonstration was joint with workers from BAE systems where 3,000 redundancies are threatened.

Marchers spoke of their disgust at the stories about them that have been carried in the Sun, the Independent and the Telegraph today.

It is not true that none of the marchers walked into Harrogate. Although some had to go ahead to meet appointments with press and local people joining a rally with the march, the march continued. Those who did walk into Harrogate are available for comments and interview.

700 strong march in Hull with Youth Fight for Jobs Jarrow Marchers and workers from BAE in Brough., photo by Paul Callanan (Click to enlarge)

Ben Robinson, one of the marchers, said "The Jarrow marchers are walking the whole way from Jarrow to London.

"Youth Fight for Jobs never claimed that every single marcher would walk 330 miles. Many are joining for a week or two depending on time they can get off work or on school holidays.

"Others are being sent from the march to speak at meetings and protests elsewhere to make sure our message gets out as wide as possible.

"But there are several who are marching the whole way, apart from trips home to sign on and attend job interviews - you would hope that the MPs would welcome this display of pro-active job seeking.

"The marchers are battling wind, rain and all sorts of health problems but are determined to keep going.

"The support we have received from people in every town we've been through has been fantastic. I have no doubt it will continue because people across the country realise the importance of young people fighting for a decent future for themselves and generations to come."

Youth Fight for Jobs demands the right of reply in the papers concerned as well as a printed retraction about no marchers walking to Harrogate.

We also invite all the journalists involved as well as Robert Goodwill to join us for a week of the march.