JAILED York student Frank Fernie is “holding up” in prison as supporters step up their campaign for his release, his mother has said.

Diane Fernie said she had been “amazed” at the support for her son and hopes he may soon be moved closer to home.

Fernie, 20, of Filey Terrace, in Clifton, was jailed last month for a year, for throwing sticks at riot police during anti-cuts protests in London in March.

He had planned to demonstrate peacefully but got caught up in the trouble, a court heard.

His family, friends and other sympathisers, who believe the sentence was excessive, have now organised a Free Frank Fernie march for Saturday afternoon.

They plan to gather in Parliament Street, before marching through the city centre, and there will be speeches and testimonials to the former York College and Archbishop Holgate’s CE pupil.

Mrs Fernie said: “I’ve been really amazed at how many people are supporting Frank, not just people who have known him for a long time, but strangers and people in the street too.

“We have had some support from as far away as Norway and New Zealand, people have read in the papers about the prison term and they are 100 per cent behind Frank.”

Diane, and Frank’s sister Victoria, have been travelling five hours to Feltham Young Offender’s Institute in Middlesex to visit him for just an hour at a time, but hope he will be moved closer to home before the end of August.

Diane said: “He’s holding up. Thankfully, he can be quite resilient. He’s had to be; there’s not much of an option.”

Kathryn Smith, who worked with Frank at Oxfam, said: “At the moment we’re feeling quite positive, very much so.”

She said campaigners were writing to people who had written to The Guardian in support of Frank, and had got some positive messages back.

More than 1,400 have now joined a Facebook group to support and try to free Frank, and Diane met York Central MP Hugh Bayley on Friday to discuss the campaign.

Fernie was described in court as an “exceptionally promising” student who had worked with several charities.