A VIGIL to show support for those going hungry due to rising poverty was held on Friday in Clydebank.

Outside the Job Centre on Kilbowie Road, protesters rallied to fight against what they have called the 'destruction of the welfare state’.

Organised by Clydebank’s Independent Resource Centre and West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare (WDCF), the organisations said it was a 'feed and fight’ approach as they also took donations of food for the food bank.

Throughout the day, around 30 people joined the picket, with a core of 15 staying all day and hosting the event.

In a display of solidarity with those going hungry in Clydebank, the activists went without food throughout the eight-hour demonstration.

“I think the hunger vigil and collection has been a remarkable event,” WDCF organiser Susan Kelly said. “We have been working in partnership with the Independent Resource Centre to make this happen, and I think it has been a success.

“The hunger vigil and collection has been useful for letting people know our services exist, that there is a food bank they can come to if they are in need of it, like many are.” She added: “This means a lot to me and I feel we’re doing something here that really matters. Food banks shouldn’t exist in the first place, but we’re out fighting, making sure people get food — it means a lot to me.” The aim of the protest was to raise awareness about the sheer scale of poverty in Clydebank and the things that contribute to it, such as benefit sanctioning and zero hour contracts.

Chief organiser Danny McCafferty, chairman of the Independent Resource Centre, said: “Small protests like today need to be emulated throughout the country and escalated. People have got to find their voice and stand up to the government and say 'we don’t believe your lies, we don’t want this to happen’, people have to stand up and reject the destruction of the welfare state.” Danny planned the protest outside the Department of Work and Pensions due to the benefit sanctioning which campaigners say is entrenching people into poverty.

Claimants, he says, are being victimised by the DWP and cited the moment last week when it emerged the agency had printed leaflets which included made up quotes from fictitious people supposedly talking about their positive experiences of the welfare system.

He said: “This is just part of a bigger propaganda machine geared towards blaming the unemployed and vulnerable for society’s woes.

“The government is lying, fooling and conning people by telling them the people to blame are the poorest, vulnerable and the most disadvantaged of society.

“We see it every day when you turn on the TV, about benefit cheats, TV poverty programmes and false leaflets printed by the DWP about sanctioning.

“Make no mistake, this is a propaganda campaign to drive people away from those in need with the ultimate aim of destroying the welfare state.”