FIVE Aberystwyth university students are on hunger-strike for 24 hours today (Thursday 3rd December) as a show of support for a Welsh language campaigner who was jailed for protesting against the language policy of major high street stores in north Wales.Osian Jones, from Dyffryn Nantlle, was last week sentenced to 28 days imprisonment for painting slogans on Boots and Superdrug stores in Caernarfon, Llangefni and Bangor in protest against their lack of Welsh services.The students' fast is part of a series of events organised by members of the Welsh Language Society to raise awareness of the imprisonment and the lack of Welsh language services in the private sector.18 year old Mair Evans, one of the five students who are fasting, said:"We are doing this to show support for Osian. He's in prison because he stood up for the rights of everyone in Wales to see, hear and use the language. It's unfair that our legal system criminalises Osian. These companies should, at the very least, provide basic Welsh language services, the fact that they refuse makes protests like this inevitable."

Commenting on the events, Menna Machreth, Chair of the Welsh Language Society, said:"I'm glad our members are holding these events to mark Osian's imprisonment As a society, all we want is for these big companies to let the Welsh language live. So many major retailers offer only a superficial service at best. It's not good enough, the Government needs to act to secure rights for people in Wales to use the language in their everyday lives.""We have tried to persuade these companies to provide a bilingual service, but without success. These companies are ignoring public opinion. 76% of the public agree that bilingual marketing and signage is important and 81% believe that training staff to learn Welsh is as well."On Friday 4th December, members of the society will be holding a street stall on Aberystwyth high street starting at 11am, asking people to sign a letter of support to the prisoner.