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as the crowd gathered from about 1pm yesterday, it soon became clear that this event was not attracting anything like the sort of numbers expected - perhaps a depressing sign of resignation among young people, or a genuine fear after the appalling repression they encountered on previous occasions.

that repression changed its public face once again yesterday, with the introduction of protest 'liaison officers' dressed in what the metropolitan police disarmingly described as 'baby blue' tabards. their role, the police claimed, was to communicate and help heal the rift that had somehow opened between student protestors and the police. they mingled with the crowd, proactively approaching each person to ensure they'd had a friendly chat, and to tell the students that if they had any concerns at all about policing, that they could raise them with the liaison officers and receive reassurance.

keener observers noted that almost without exception, the men and women wearing the baby blue tabards and attempting to converse with each student were current or past field/forward intelligence officers (FIT), trained in extracting information and familiar with photographs of known activists, press, and organisers (even those not suspected of any criminal activity). notably absent too, were the usual overt FIT officers, normally crawling all over this sort of protest, now deemed unnecessary. there were however, a small number of undercover plain-clothes officers that also followed the entire route, spotting, and surreptitiously reporting what they saw. one of them, dressed in shabby leather jacket and jeans, was sporting the classic clean shoes, always (though probably not reliably) regarded as a give-away - i couldn't resist a close-up photo of the cliche footwear.

once the march got underway, there was a show of force from the police with a slick road-management operation and plenty of officers ensuring the students stuck to the proscribed route. as they made their way round russell square, police horses stood ground, perhaps a not so subtle reminder of how horses were driven into a crowd of trapped protestors in whitehall last year (many of whom were children arbitrarily rounded up and kettled earlier in the day)

although the students were small in number, (certainly no more than a thousand at the peak of the march), they were certainly switched-on and angry. their chants focussed a lot on injustice and police brutality. many of the students sported stickers in support of 'alfie meadows', the student seriously injured by police last year, and among their chants were:
'alfie meadows we are all'
'no justice no peace, fuck the police'
'1,2,3, how many police are in the BNP'

outside downing street, the marchers staged a sit-down, and speeches were delivered relating again to police violence, this time naming several famous cases of deaths in police custody including 'smiley culture', who, we are supposed to believe, stabbed himself in the heart during a police drugs raid a year ago.

after a few minutes at downing street, the march moved on past parliament and round to the department of business, industry and skills, in victoria street. there, the road was closed off, and there were more speeches and chants, including 'willets, willets, what you gonna do when we come for you', and 'we fucked up your hq'. the numbers of 'liaison officers' reduced, and an overt FIT team started taking photos and videos of the demonstrators, including four clowns who started clowning around, worshipping the HSBC cashpoint opposite, as well as kneeling in praise to the police.

the crowd began to disperse, and the liaison officers gently informed everyone that they were of course welcome to continue their protest on the pavement opposite the department but that the road would be re-opened.