On the morning of the protest, all tweets and blogs spread messages of peace from both the protestors and the Sussex police.
When the protest reached Ship Street, however, the police forceably moved the march toward North Street. This seemed strange to me since North Street is a main road through Brighton and moving it in this direction would probably cause a lot of disruption. The protestors tried to continue on their planned route along Ship Street but were met with a vast number of police officers and four mounted officers stopping them from moving anywhere. As protesters pushed and shoved under the pressure from the police and mounted police, some officers began to push back twice as hard.
The police finally let some protestors pass to North Street and enabling them to separate the march. Their voice and the message was weakening. At this point, there were only about, I would guess, 20 protestors in the kettled area on Ship Street.
Many locals from Brighton commented that the police presence far outwieghed the number protestors and were appalled with their conduct - refusing residents entry down certain roads that were not close to the protesters.
The most terrifying sight I saw during the day involved a young man who had been protesting. In the Pavillion Gardens, which were bustling full of families and their children, a policeman twice his size threw his arms around the man's waist and took him to the ground while some nearby officers launched themselves in the same direction. I did not see what the young man had done preceeding this but he had a slight frame and had been drinking and clearly did not require that amount of force to restrain him. A mother had to grab her baby from the ground moments before the officers boots were scrambling around in the very same spot.
There were still some who were good humoured throughout the day. Like the three friends dressed as clowns who mimed when the officers yelled "Hold the line!" whenever they were commanded to protect what was usually Boots, Tesco or Sainsbury. It's unfortunate they could not protect the residents and visitors in the Pavillion Gardens in the same way.
