Brigade members joined forces with Underclass Rising to offer our support to students in Sheffield today. First to turn up were thousands of 6th formers who are protesting against the loss of EMA. These youngsters were in fine voice and the anti-Tory songs took us straight back to the 80s – though I’m sure we never swore as much back then, honest ;-) Sadly we only had a few of AMP’s ‘Best Cut’ posters left to give out, which is a shame because they were very warmly received.We needn’t have worried though, the kids were on form with some brilliant banners. There were obscure ones – “Dis shit wouldn’t go down at hogwarts”, personal ones – a picture of Sam Cam which read “Not the only one being screwed by David!” and ‘to-the-point’ ones – a piece of paper that simply read ‘CUNTS’.

When the uni students turned up the protesters marched through the streets of Sheffield, down to the Town Hall. It was hard to gage how many people were involved, but West St was full from one end to the other with students. It was pretty obvious that the Yorkshire Post‘s estimate of 1000 was complete bollocks (as usual) – and the Posts ‘coverage’ is predictably negative. The support for the student’s cause is damn near universal in Sheffield and everybody was clapping as they passed. We doubt Sheffield has seen many protests like this since the days of CND or the Poll Tax.

Once at the Town Hall we attempted to get an aerial-photo from the upper floors of Barclays Bank – we were stopped on the stairs and asked what we were doing. When we told them, they said “We wouldn’t want to be associated with THEM!”, pointing at the students. There you have it, as if you didn’t know already – an official spokesman for Barclays wants nothing to do with people fighting for fairness, democracy and justice! FUCKING BANKERS!

There wasn’t much of a police presence at the Hall, but when we walked round the corner, to the Peace Garden, we found that vans and horses were lined up in force. Sadly the boys with billy-clubs would have been more than happy to vent their spleen on Sheffield’s wonderful children :-( C’mon lads, you really should have joined them on their demo instead of skulking in a corner like the school bully – after all, you’re gonna be victims of the cuts too!

This was one of the most inspirational protests we’ve seen in years. These kids can certainly teach the grown-ups a thing or to. If the adults are afraid to take to the streets because they might lose their jobs then they need to wake up and smell the coffee – cuz you’re definitely gonna lose them – and a whole lot more – if you don’t!

We need to fight the cuts, and then we need to fight the government. If not, then we get the future we deserve!

Images  http://www.flickr.com/photos/0742/sets/72157625334478839

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