The Town Hall Square was bursting with support last night (SAT) as Leicester welcomed dozens of campaigners fighting to protect the NHS.
A 300-mile People's March, involving more than 60 passionate men and women, passed through the county at the weekend, stopping off in the city centre.
Starting off on August 16, the group had walked from Jarrow, in the north east and will continue to rally as they make their way down to London, to lobby Parliament over changes to the health service.
Entering Town Hall Square on Saturday evening, they chanted "NHS, not for sale", followed by "Whose NHS? Your NHS. Whose NHS? My NHS. Whose NHS? Our NHS?" and "No 'if's', no 'buts', no NHS cuts."
The Leicester Campaign Against NHS Privatisation had organised the marcher's reception rally in Leicestershire, which was appealing against the way the NHS is being "fragmented, privatised and forced to compete".
A group of supporters held signs which read, 'NHS not trident, as they welcomed the rally to the city.
Anna Cheetham and Peter Thompson, both of Leicester city centre, were among the supporters.
Anna, 79 said: "We're here to try and protect our NHS.
"It's such a wonderful system and it is vital for us to keep it."
Peter, 89 added: "Why are we spending money on other things when the NHS is crying out for cash?
"The NHS is something that our country should be extremely proud of."
The walkers and the supporters were addressed by Labour politicians Rory Palmer, the deputy mayor of Leicester, and Liz Kendall, MP for Leicester West.
Speaking to the Mercury, Mr Palmer said: "I'm extremely concerned about what the government is doing to our NHS.
"Enough is enough now, our NHS needs to be saved."
Ms Kendall said that she was "very proud" to have welcomed the campaigners to the city.
"People are so passionate about this because the NHS is a universal service which is given to us based on our needs and not our ability to pay, unlike a lot of other countries," she told the Mercury.
"We need to show full support for the NHS."
The campaigners will pass through 23 towns in their month-long walk. They reached Loughborough on Friday and were marching to Market Harborough this morning, before heading south.
On their way through Leicester last night, the marchers were served a cooked meal at the Secular Hall, in Humberstone Gate and this morning, they had breakfast at the Methodist church, in Bishop Street, which also became a temporary hostel for many of the woman on Saturday night.
