Student protest in London

In recent weeks students and schoolchildren have demonstrated in cities all over the UK in protest at plans for massively increased university fees, at the same time as cuts to government funding of universities and removal of an educational maintenance allowance for low income families.

Two weeks ago I was in a drawing class which meets at Trafalgar Square to draw people in the local environment. The class coincided with a day of protest marches, which seemed to me to be a wonderful drawing opportunity.

Unfortunately I ended up trapped by the police by their unjustifiable ‘kettling’ tactic – containing protesters for a long time in an enclosed area, not allowing anybody out for any reason. I was swept up by police from where I was drawing, 300 metres from the demo itself, and I wasn’t allowed out for over 4 hours – in the freezing cold.

The police claimed as justification that the protest was violent. There were some elements out to cause trouble but the overwhelming majority of protesters were peaceful, and many were under 16 years old. The kettling tactic is indiscriminate (I wasn’t even protesting) in who it contains and how it treats individuals.

But I did get some drawing done. Here are some:

The day started beautifully, as crowds of students gathered in Trafalgar Square

and in front of the National Gallery

Later I drew:
Mounted police in Whitehall and riot police outside government buildings:

police holding back protesters; two art students, drawing riot police line:

protesters in the kettle; running from a mounted police charge:

The police tactics on that day have since become the subject of widespread criticism and concern.