around 2000 people joined an assembly in dalston this afternoon, before marching north to tottenham for a rally outside the town hall

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the event was called by the 'north london unity assembly' which brought together more than 70 local community leaders and groups under the banner "give our kids a future".

crowds assembled at gilet square in dalston, where they heard from an array of speakers. links were made between austerity cuts, deprivation, inflexible narrow education, poor employment prospects and other ills of capitalism. some speakers highlighted the hypocricy of MPs calling for the sternest response to riots, while walking free from the expenses scandals. others highlighted the billions lost to bankers who truly looted the country, and yet are still pocketing their unfeasible bonuses. the excessive use of stop and search by police was blamed for alienating young people, and of course the IPCC was castigated for its total lack of independence, with hundreds of deaths at police hands and not one single conviction, and the lies unravelling over the death of mark duggan.

as the march walked the four mile route up to tottenham, police (mostly from outside forces) provided a low key accompaniment, but half a dozen riot vans were never far away in the back streets. whether through bad planning or a more sinister motive, vehicles were allowed through as the march travelled through the one-way high street in stoke newington, mingling with the crowd further up the road.

although the gathering was generally very good-natured and peaceful, some people questioned why a female police officer was videoing the crowd - her response was that she was only doing her job.

at the final rally outside the tottenham town hall, there was an open microphone, giving dozens of people the opportunity to address the crowd for two minutes each. again, the police screwed up allowing some vehicles to come up the road and through the crowd, until one speaker shamed them into joining legal observers who were trying to redirect the traffic around the demo.

when i left at around 4.30, there were still a few hundred people listening to speakers