A 300 strong crowd of people gathered Albert Square on Saturday (26th February) to protest against the withdrawal of funding from Sure Start Centers. Children were wore ‘You cut! We bleed!’ tee shirts and waved model axes whilst the angry crowd heckled Sheila Newman, the Cllr for Children’s Services, as she tried to speak.
Tony Lloyd, MP was also present at the protest and called on people to support the Manchester demonstration on March 5th. On the threats to Sure Start, he said ‘The last thing I want to see is something that makes a difference being cut. Remember this governement promised they would not cut Sure Start.’ Labour councillors too were not elected to cut Sure Start, which provides a vital resource for young families in the city.
The protest was called by the Manchester branch of Unite
For Granada report of the protest go to:
I wrote a piece here on this
http://www.permanentrevolution.net/?view=entry&entry=3290