‘Jarrow’ march defended

CAMPAIGNERS re-enacting the famous Jarrow March of the 1930s have rejected claims that the project is fizzling out.

The marchers, who are demanding a programme of job creation, set off from Tyneside a week ago.

They plan to finish in London with a demonstration on 5 November to protest against the high level of youth unemployment.

The event, staged by Youth Fight for Jobs, reached Yorkshire at the end of the week amid claims that only a handful of the hundreds who started out were still walking.

Yesterday, organisers said 1,000 people joined the core of marchers for events in Hull and Leeds. They said the numbers in Leeds were swelled by trade unionists and students.

A group from the march went to Hull to join an event protesting against the hundreds of redundancies planned for the nearby BAe Systems plant at Brough.

A spokesman rejected reports that a planned visit to Harrogate in North Yorkshire had been a wash-out with many marchers dropping out and others having to be bussed into the city.

He said: “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.”