Demonstrators clash with police outside NAB headquarters in Melbourne's Docklands. Credit:Simon Schluter It is unclear whether a protester smashed the glass or it was the result of pressure exerted by police and NAB security guards on the doors to hold them shut. A police officer standing out the front of the building said a protester had smashed the glass. A beatbox blared music throughout the scuffle as the group of about 100 demonstrators, who were protesting against cuts to higher education funding, chanted slogans such as "no ifs, no buts, no education cuts". Former RMIT student Sergio, who declined to give his last name, was in the centre of the action.

The clean-up following the protest at the book launch of Christopher Pyne's new book. Credit:Simon Schluter Speaking afterwards with bandaids covering his bloodied hands, he said the police had "attacked" protesters. . "We were just there doing the chanting for education and… they would just come and grab people forcefully." The 25-year-old said the glass was accidentally smashed by police inside the building who were pushing up against the doors. "It sort of flew towards us who were standing in the crowd," he said. "It came from the inside."

Brendan Tam, who stopped to watch on his way to Southern Cross Station, said he saw pushing and shoving between the two groups. "The protesters tried to force their way through the doors, so then more police came down from inside the building and made sure they couldn't get in," he said. Mr Tam said he didn't witness any police brutality and that the protesters' behaviour was "rabid". NAB worker Laura Mclean also witnessed the scuffle. Ms Mclean described the protesters as "passionate", blaming the violence on only a small "inconsiderate" few who, she said, ruined the group's message.

"The guy who smashed the window, I think that was their downfall," she said. "But, I think most of them were pretty cool." Victoria Police spokeswoman Belinda Nolan said one woman was arrested during the protest. She said the woman, who is accused of assaulting police, was being interviewed on Friday evening. Earlier, at the bank's Bourke Street entrance, the protesters stopped Australian Liberal Students Federation member Matthew Lesh from entering the building to attend the book launch.

Mr Lesh, who is the National Union of Students Victorian branch general secretary, later condemned the protest, which was organised by another of the union's executive branch members. "I was disgusted by the way the extremists tried to stop me from entering the event," Mr Lesh said in a press release. "The aggressive actions of the extremist few give all students a bad name." Mr Lesh, who accused the protesters of wasting police resources and causing "unnecessary mayhem", said he was not consulted before the protest. "I am disgusted by the lack of consultation and consideration of different views in the National Union of Students," he said.

The union's president Rose Steele said the protest was organised to fight against higher education cuts. "Students are furious at the raft of attacks that Mr Pyne is trying to introduce into the parliament this year," she said. "They have been defeated twice now. Mr Pyne is not listening to students, academics, and to 80 per cent of the community who are against these changes that will see the privatisation of our university system and degrees rise up to over $100,000." Ms Steele said, from what she could see, the police had smashed the glass doors when the protesters had tried to sit down. "It's a shame that it seems the police have broken down the doors," she said.

"Students are trying to peacefully protest and have a discussion. It's a shame there was such a push back from police when they were just trying to sit down." Mr Pyne's book, A Letter to my Children, aims to answer a question from his eldest daughter as to why he entered politics when it meant being away from his children often.



It charts his political life up to 2007 and explains what public life means to him.