Thousands of students played a game of cat and mouse with police in central London on Tuesday in a protest against planned rises in university tuition fees. Police in riot gear guarded government buildings amid fears the demonstration would end in violence like two protests earlier this month.
But in a bid to avoid being "kettled", a containment tactic used by police, demonstrators broke up into groups which spread out through the streets of the capital. Organisers had called for students and school pupils to take to the streets in a national day of action against the Conservative-led coalition government's plans to almost triple tuition fees to up to 9,000 pounds ($14,500) a year.
In London, protesters had planned to march along Whitehall, home to many government departments, to parliament for speeches from lawmakers and union leaders. "I think it's just lucky that this many people have managed to evade that (being kettled) and are marching freely along the streets of London," said Robin Engelhard, 18. The Metropolitan Police said there had been no major incidents and they were trying to facilitate the protest.
The number of protesters appeared to be smaller than at the two previous rallies, amid freezing temperatures and snow. During one march earlier this month, protesters smashed windows and started fires at the building housing Conservative Party headquarters in London. There were scuffles and vandalism during another in the capital last week.
Police were criticised on both occasions, for failing to realise the potential for trouble at the first and then for allegedly heavy-handed tactics at the second. Senior officers have warned since that no disorder will be tolerated. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson said "the game has changed" in policing protests and he expected more trouble. Students have been occupying university buildings as part of their campaign against the fee plans, part of austerity measures, which will see 81 billion pounds of spending cuts over four years.