The reasons why the violence was wrong, if the blood stained woman police officer and that fire extinguisher didn’t quite convince you, is that it meant the Government were able to completely duck the issue that axing EMA is wrong. I believe that the cuts to education like EMA are evil and wrong; which is why I support non-violent direct action but not direct action that sees people hurt and injured, which I and most people also deem to be evil and wrong. But if you don’t share this view, then at least realise that tactically violent action doesn’t help our cause.

That day we announced that Andy Burnham MP was backing our campaign and we had media requests to talk about EMA and why we were protesting and why it has to be saved. However, throughout all the interviews on the day I was asked questions about “How” we protested instead of “Why”. In another Sky News interview (above) the next day, again I was asked about the anguish shown by a mere 1,000 people out of the 55,000 people protesting. What you don’t see is that at the very end of the interview, which Sky cut out, is where I managed to turn the conversation back on to the issue of EMA being axed. Sky news cut this out of the clip they repeated online and throughout the day, not out of evil machinations but because it was not “the story”; for them like the rest of the media the big news was not the cuts but the violence.

I made the point in the interview yesterday, that nine of the leading British newspapers all had just one photo on their front pages of an anarchist kicking in a window instead of images of the 55,000 people marching united through Westminster, and ask Jo the chap opposite which would he prefer – didn’t answer, but his instant epiphany was obvious. The head of the University of London Union, who was marching about tuition fees and trying to justify the violence, ironically has a son on EMA, and had no answer to me on a BBC interview when I asked how many times have you talked about EMA being axed today. Instead, in her attempts at grandstanding she managed to help the Government and the Tory party avoid being held to account on their pre-election lies.

The idea put forward by some that the violence raised the profile of the event is just ridiculous, as pictures of 55,000 protesters marching through Westminster were always going to be on the front pages the next day no matter what the issue the march was about. But those same people who put across this ludicrous point never gave the peaceful protest a chance to find out if it would work, as before it had ended they started turning to violence - and there is a lot to be said for peaceful protest. Ghandi through his use of non-violent action such as the famous ‘Salt March’ achieved a lot more than any of the violent acts of his contemporaries. Furthermore, this summer saw the death of Scottish trade unionist Jimmy Reid, who successfully helped keep shipbuilding on the Clyde well into this century by his use of a work-in, in which he emphasised the peaceful non-violent nature of the protest with the famous words:

“there will be no hooliganism, there will be no vandalism, there will be no bevvying because the world is watching us, and it is our responsibility to conduct ourselves with responsibility, and with dignity, and with maturity.”

What those who are angry at the education cuts must make sure is that the tiny minority of Lib Dem MPs helping the Tories push through these savage cuts are not getting let off the hook by a tiny minority violent protestors. If you were involved in the violent protests, then all I ask of you is to keep that anger and passion and use it positively in peaceful protests and give them a chance first. Once we engage in violent acts we tarnish our cause, and although those like Jo in this interview are speaking, unfortunately no one is listening. More importantly, no one is listening to why both me and Jo are angry in the first place.

I leave you with the wise words of someone much wiser than myself and who showed that non-violent direct action can beat empires and free millions:

“Violence only multiplies evil and that as evil can only be sustained by violence, withdrawal of support for evil requires complete abstention from violence.”