At times the atmosphere was close to that of a Carnival, and at no time, despite the palpable anger and frustration of the next generation of university students, whom feel that they are being cheated out of their own futures by an uncaring government, did the mood ever fluctuate into negativity or despondency.

What I also witnessed yesterday was genuine grassroots Anarchy happening, in the truest sense of the word (that being non hierarchical collective decision making). I suspect this was due in no small part to the conspicuous absence of many of the usual people who tend to commandeer the Megaphone and generally dictate the terms and route demonstrations - were they in London..?

This created an interesting kind of power vacuum, as it meant that the demo had no real plan of action, and yet somehow we managed to achieve a lot more as a result, and ended up seizing public spaces that we perhaps wouldn't have otherwise done.

I suspect we also got away with a lot more because the police seemed to be on the backfoot, possibly due to the sheer number of schoolkids and sixth formers who were present. After all, not only were many of them under the legal age that they could be prosected, but it would be extremely bad PR for the police to be seen to be manhandling minors in public, especially with the eyes of the world's media on them.

What I also saw was a lot of creativity, with many very witty homemade banners and placards to be seen (see photos), along with a very 'Punk' D.I.Y. approach, with people making their own entertainment, from one group of lads who brought along their own iPod Boomboox, blasting out everything from D'n'B and Dubstep to T Rex ("Children of The Revolution" - how appropiate!), and some Piquetero attitude, with people bashing out rhythmns on Frying pans and Snare Drums and creating a real party vibe in the process. At one stage a spontaneous Conga line happened on the front lawn of Senate House - something I won't forget for a long time.

I also saw a protesting Snowman here too (see photo), who, alas didn't survive the afternoon.

What has never happened before is that we managed to reclaim the corporate consumerist space of The Grand Arcade, not once but twice in the same afternoon, the second time a spontaneous sit in took place for a few minutes.

This is a space that I've seen previous, more formally organised demonstrations actively avoiding.

No such inhibitions yesterday.

A symbolic visit of the Judge Business School took place (see photos), with a few of the building's occupants leaning out of the windows to show their support.

On our travels around the streets of Cambridge (Kings Parade, Trumpington Road, then Downing Street, through the Grand Arcade and back to Senate House, out again to picket The Guildhall, back to The Grand Arcade, finishing at Senate House to end the party there), we quite effectively snarled up the flow of traffic around town, as motorists had no choice but to stop, as hundreds of protestors very succesfully reclaimed the streets for themselves en route to other places.

Once again the police seemed to be on the backfoot, with them attempting to manage things as best they could, but with the chaotic nature of events seeming to work in our favour.

Only one brief episode seemed to put a black mark on things, with some more exuberant schoolkids(?) chucking brown, sludgy snowballs around (one of them hit me - I'll live), a stray(?), one breaking a window panel in Senate House.

However, I do know that some of student occupiers of Old Schools saw this happen and immediately started collecting money to cover the damage within minutes of it happening. during the incident, a loud chant of "Stop throwing snow" effectively got the message across to the guilty parties.

On the way back to The Grand Arcade, an unsuccesful attempt was made to try and enter the Guildhall Building, but the doors were very rapidly staked out by building security and the police. At this stage former local Green Party candidate (Martin Lucas Smith) got on the Megaphone and told everyone present to keep campaigning, as it's their futures at stake. This was about as close as we got to the usual Megaphone rallying, and even this was unplanned.

Conspicuous in their absence were any Unions, with the exception of one man carrying a PCS banner - were they in London too..?

On the whole, what happened yesterday (certainly for me) was a very positive event, which should give us all hope for the future, as it's clear that the next generation of potential (and actual) University students DO care about their future, despite certain Tabloid's attempts to demonise the youth of this country.

To end the telling of this tale, the ruling elite had better watch out, as their time will come to pass, and it will soon be the turn of people who were on the streets yesterday, so the current generation of leaders had better leave a decent legacy to be inherited by those on the way up, something not to be ashamed of, because even though it was as much party as protest yesterday, I also saw a lot of anger and resentment simmering away just beneath the surface.


(P.S. Apologies for the length of this article, but there was a lot of things to relate!)

More pictures to follow soon.