#Demo2012

I wrote this as I was on the coach trundling back north from London. I've had a good day at #demo2012.

#demo2012 was a march organized by NUS which is the national union for students. Universities join you up automatically when you enroll.

There were many common misconceptions about today’s march. People thought that we were marching against tuition fees. People thought that we were marching as a protest against the government and some people thought we just wanted a riot.

We were actually marching in support of education at all aspects of education across all levels. NUS had come up with the tagline educate employ empower. This highlighted three of the main problems faced by young people today. Firstly, that the quality of our education is being compromised by cuts. Secondly, that young people are struggling to gain employment and thirdly, as a result young people are left with little confidence and a feeling of worthlessness. 

The atmosphere of the march varied. To begin with the weather was looking slightly dull and the late start meant that people were really getting fed up with all the speakers that they couldn't really hear over the amateur megaphone they were using. However, after setting off we all warmed up and the sun almost broke through the clouds. Police lined the whole route; I was slightly worried about the lack of numbers at the start but after about 10mins of marching their number had picked up. There were a few people there who were there just to cause trouble but you could spot them a mile off, the black balaclavas were a giveaway. (Seriously not a good look) I only saw this group clash with the police once and the police were really swift in dealing with them and getting the march to move on.

The mood changed considerably when we arrived at parliament. It was clear that some people weren't planning on just marching past like planned. When we tried to cross the bridge several protesters angrily told us that we shouldn't cross the bridge and pointed to the houses of parliament and told us 'that's where parliament is' (you don't say!?). A small group had decided to sit on Westminster Bridge and try and block our path, but we just walked around them, they weren't the best blockade ever. After that we found the police had blocked the route because they wanted to keep us together so we had to wait for those outside parliament to move or be moved. This provided the perfect time for munching biscuits so we didn't mind.

 Everyone was back in good spirits after the slight tension at parliament. We marched on out towards Kennington Park . That's when the weather changed. Just after Waterloo it began to rain. We didn't mind it at first as it was quite light but then it became persistent rain and cold wind. You could tell people were fed up but this point.  A few more trouble makers crawled out of the woodwork (seriously who wears a balaclava and a snorkel mask and glasses!?) again they were dealt with quickly and professionally by the police. When we all finally trudged into Kennington Park we just wanted to go home. We were supposed to stay for a rally but it was just too cold and we were just too wet so off we trundled to the coach and we set off for home. I don't think we were the only ones to do that. Most people quickly dispersed as when our coach drove past the gardens were almost empty.

Now I have mentioned the two clashes I saw but if you read the news there was a few more. Apparently protesters were pelted with eggs at one point and at the rally audience members stormed the stage. Apparently they did this because they were unhappy with the choice of route.

I just want to take a moment to say a few words about the police on the day. When I tweeted saying thanks to the police a few people totally slated me. Please don't. Without the police there we wouldn't have been able to hold the march. They closed off all the roads, kept us going in the right direction and most importantly kept us safe. After the 2010 march the police got a lot of bad press about how they dealt with the violent out bursts. Today I felt really safe and that is the top priority for me. What few clashes I did see were dealt with swiftly. All the police I spoke to were very friendly which really added to the atmosphere and the sheer number of them was great to see. So thank you to the police. An extra Thank you to all the stewards who kept us all organized as well.

  

Onto the more light-hearted side of things now. There were some seriously brilliant signs and songs going round today although it was hard to get photos as we were always moving but I have a few. The Harry Potter themed ones were my fave! 'first Dobby now this' 'this wouldn't happen if Dumbledore was still alive' 'Dumbledore didn't die for this' 'this shit wouldn't happen at Hogwarts' . Some others included 'hey Dave, lend us a fiver?' 'less lies more pies'. 'does my society look big in this?'

The songs and chants really were my highlight.

'I need a dollar dollar, dollar is what I need'

To the tune of 'hey baby' 

Heeey, George Osborne!

Ooh ah!

I wanna know

where my moneys gone!'

To the tune of if you're happy and you know it clap your hands

'if you like free education clap your hands'

*clap clap*

if you like free education clap your hands

*clap clap*

if you like free education, but not tory domination, if you like free education clap your hands

*clap clap* '

'Rain rain go away bring us back our EMA' 

The atmosphere here was very different to when I went down to the Oct20 run by trade unions called afuturethatworks. The feeling there was a lot calmer and the protesters seemed to know what they were doing, as in they knew the route and stuck to it. The rally after was much more successful in October, I suppose the weather helped a heck of a lot with that though.

If you were there feel free to leave a comment sharing your experiences!

If not would you attend something like this? Has the public perception of the 2010 march put you off?

Keep it scrimpy 

Laura.