On Saturday 6th December people in Brighton joined with others demonstrating around the country and held a march calling for free education. Hundreds of people gathered at the Level in the centre of Brighton.
It was the first time since this summer’s Gaza demos that people have taken to the streets of Brighton in such large numbers. The demo was refreshingly positive, disobedient and chaotic, sparking hopes of a return to the successful street demos during the vibrant social movements of 2009-11.
Police kept a deliberately low profile during the demo, focussing on deploying police liaison officers (PLOs) to control the demo. This seemed to be the case last week too, at the London protest outside the US embassy in solidarity with the protests in Ferguson at the killing of Mike Brown. Seems like the authorities want to avoid the use of violence on mass street protests at the moment, in order not to fan the flames of public anger. However, the hands off approach won’t last long if people continue to take to the streets.
Not to be fooled by the charm offensive, students handed out flyers saying that the PLOs are ‘not your friends’.
After listening to speeches condemning killer cops in Ferguson and police violence against students at the University of Warwick on Thursday, the demo spilled out onto the streets. A samba band, beating pots, pans and bongo drums had been assembled. At the head of the demo were a group of masked up people with home-made shields.
Leaflets were handed out in solidarity with Nikos Romanos, currently on hunger strike in a Greek prison demanding that the prison authorities grant him the right to study while he serves his sentence.
Demonstrators marched up Edward Street and occupied the steps of Brighton Magistrates Court. Then the demo continued towards the Churchill Square shopping centre, focussing on symbols of capitalism on the way.
On North Street the crowd tried to force through the doors of Barclays Bank, an investor in arms companies supplying the Israeli military. A little further up the road people managed to get through the doors of Boots, a corporate tax avoider. There were scuffles with the police on the steps of the store. Students then turned their attention on Topshop and Starbucks, chanting “pay your taxes”. The protest finished outside the Town Hall.
All in all, a pretty successful day, which linked student struggles in the UK to prison solidarity, anti-capitalism and solidarity with popular struggles in Greece, Ferguson and Palestine. Let’s hope that next time we can step up our resistance.