Three 15-year-old children were among five people to be arrested at the Stop the Cuts demo yesterday.
About 800 students, sixth formers and schoolchildren marched from Victoria Gardens in Brighton to Hove Town Hall.
They were protesting about cuts in higher education spending as well as proposals by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government for higher tuition fees.
The five arrests were
- A 15-year-old from Worthing who was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage after the McDonald’s in London Road, Brighton, was damaged
- A 15-year-old from Brighton who was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence
- A 15-year-old who was arrested for failing to provide their details
- An 18-year-old man from Hove who was arrested on suspicion of breach of the peace and resisting arrest and
- A 21-year-old man who was arrested for a public order offence.
Superintendent Steve Whitton said: “The organisers of the march were co-operative and informative, helping us to plan today’s policing operation.
“Unfortunately a significant group within the protest were intent on causing disruption and chose to break away from the march and refused to work with police, with some choosing to throw missiles.
“One officer was assaulted during the protest and another received a muscle injury. “Protesters with a legitimate point to make do not need to resort to criminal damage, intimidation of innocent members of the public and violence.
“These actions impact significantly upon the local community.
“While it is disappointing crime and disorder took place during today’s march and for some time afterwards, sufficient police resources were available to deal with these incidents.
“Throughout the protest around 250 officers were deployed.”
Sussex Police said that all the offences that had taken place today would be thoroughly investigated.
It asked witnesses to any criminal activity to contact the force on 0845 6070999.
Among the premises to be damaged were McDonalds in London Road, Brighton, the Vodafone store in Western Road, Brighton, and the Halifaz branch in London Road.
I was not part of the protest and was cycling by on my way to a work meeting when I saw a police van sceech to a halt and a large number of officers jump on a young man who was just walking with a group of people on the pavement. Another cyclist who was passing by also saw this and asked me to stop and observe what was happening. She asked me if I had a pen to note the number of one police officer who she was concerned had been unnecessarily violent in arresting the young man. I went over to look at the PC’s number and he turned and hit me on my left arm – it is still aching now 16 hours later. To his credit he did subsequently come over to me and apologise – though I wonder if he was just worried when he realised he had assaulted a passer by. It suggested to me that the police were not in control of themselves and from what I saw the man who was arrested was not causing a disturbance nor was he resisting arrest as te officers claimed at the time.