Saturday lunchtime saw hundreds of people congregate in Newport and march in solidarity against the massive public service cuts being proposed by the Isle of Wight council.
Council workers, residents young and old, Labour, Lib Dem, Independent and even Tories marched to send a message to the councillors who will be voting this coming Wednesday (23rd) on the proposals to make nearly £18m of savings, £9m of which relate to a loss of grants from the Government.
Newport shoppers joined
The huge snake of people grew in size, picking up shoppers, as it weaved its way through the streets of Newport, bringing traffic to a standstill. By the time the march reached St Thomas’ Square, estimates were that in excess of 1,000 concerned Islanders had taken part.
As protesters gathered in the square, speeches were made by various interested parties. Mark Chiverton, Unison branch rep for the IW, got the ball rolling, followed by Labour county councillor, Geoff Lumley, Bob Burton (Trades Union), the Unison rep for the South, as well as Tanja Rebel and Geoff Mason from the Stop The Cuts Alliance.
Speeches given
Rob Wilson (the Butterfly Man) read out a particularly poignant poem and an ex-Tory cabinet member gave a spontaneous and heartfelt speech telling the protesters how he was incandescent with rage at the cuts being made at County Hall.
VB filmed the entire march and speeches and have video footage and podcasts to follow on VentnorBlog in the lead up to the next demo which takes place on Wednesday (23rd) at 5pm outside County Hall.
