6.30pm:

Re-cap time...

• Largely peaceful protests have taken place across the UK. Thousands of school pupils, college pupils and university students have marched, demonstrated, and occupied buildings in protest against proposed government increases in tuition fees and education cuts – despite heavy snow and freezing temperatures across much of the country.

• In Birmingham, part of the city council building was occupied by around 50 protesters, including college leavers. The group vacated the building at 5.30pm. In Nottingham, up to 150 occupied the university's Great Hall, demanded the university publicly oppose the coalition government's plans.

• In London, protests were largely peaceful, despite protesters deviating from the route they had planned with police. Simon Hardy, from the national campaign against fees and cuts, said protesters became "worried" about being kettled so changed their route, culminating with thousands going on an ad hoc march through the capital. However at around 6pm this evening there were clashes between protesters and police.

• Protests are set to continue over the next two weeks. More nationwide demonstrations are set to take place on 9 and 11 December, with a large protest also planned on the day of the vote on tuition fee increases – rumoured to be mid December. Meanwhile, dozens of universities remain occupied by protesters, and look likely to continue through the week.

That's it for today, thanks for all the comments, tweets and emails.

6.00pm:

The Guardian's beat blogger in Edinburgh, Michael MacLeod, has sent this video of protests in the city, where students mounted a snowball protest against tuition fees, hurling compacted snow at Holyrood.

5.35pm:

I've just spoken to Simon Hardy, one of the people behind the national campaign against fees and cuts and one of the people who met with the Metropolitan police yesterday to map out the route protesters would be taking today.

Hardy said today had been "really successful", and said the scattering of protesters across London was caused by fear of kettling from police. He added that in turning away from officers on Whitehall, protesters had been able to go on an ad hoc march which was "far better than any march we'd have been able to negotiate with the police".

Earlier (2.56pm) police said they were forced to form a line across Whitehall after protesters set off earlier than they had planned, meaning they would have marched without a police escort. The line of officers appeared to cause fear among some protesters that they were about to be kettle, however, and many promptly turned and headed elsewhere.

"It's true that the plan we worked out with police isn't the one that occurred on the day. However it wasn't bad faith on the part of the protesters went there ready to do the proposed route as we agreed it," Hardy said.

"As the demonstration was gathering in Trafalgar Square people saw police vans and police moving around Whitehall and thought that they didn't want a repeat of last week [when protesters were 'kettled' for hours on Whitehall] so they began a spontaneous protest which took us all round the houses in London."

Hardy said today had been "really successful, absolutely amazing".

"The kettling last week didn't put people off but actually made it even more radical. The reason why it just kept moving and wouldn't stop was because so many people were worried about kettling by the police so they just kept moving, and demonstrating, and in the end we actually got a march through London that was far better than any march we'd have been able to negotiate with the police."

He said protesters marched "all the way from Trafalgar Square, near to Parliament, past Scotland Yard, to Victoria, to Hyde Park Corner, to Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street, down to Tottenham Court Road, then Holborn, then we split up because of a failed kettling attempt by police. Then some headed off towards the city of London and some headed towards Trafalgar Square and so on."

5.13pm:

Guardian writer Bibi van der Zee reports from Brighton:

Things are going strong here. Riot police are currently lined up to protect the Mcdonalds on London Road, various roads are shut down while organisers try to get demonstrators back to the town centre, students giving the exhortation "Who gives a fuck about Mcdonalds?"

One student just told me that police tried to kettle them but were dodged. Getting very very cold here so should think most people will head home soon.

4.59pm:

In Nottingham around 150 students, including college pupils, have occupied the University of Nottingham's Great Hall, following a march through the city centre which was attended by up to 300 people.

Here's David, a postgraduate student at the university.

I didn't turn my mic off quick enough at the end, so you might hear a bit of babble. Apologies.

4.53pm:

I've been sent the following video by @oxfordbunion on Twitter, which shows footage of protesters marching through the city centre before occupying Oxfordshire county council.



.

4.28pm:

My colleague Cameron Robertson has been behind the scenes at the University College London occupation, where students have been in residence for almost a week. Here's his video:

"I think it's really important not to demonise the police," says one.

4.18pm:

Matthew Taylor has just been on the line from Trafalgar Square.

Matthew Taylor Photograph: Guardian

Although police have all sides of the square blocked off, with lines of officers with vans behind them, this isn't kettling on the scale we have seen in the previous two London protests.

Police have said they won't let everyone leave at once, but will let small groups through. They don't want another mass march leaving the square, and indeed Whitehall is still closed off to protesters.

There's pretty wild weather down here, which is probably helping the police operation. With the rally point being Trafalgar Square, it'd be difficult for police to kettle protesters anyway in such a popular tourist area.

There are about 400 people near the south west corner of the square, listening and dancing to music, but people are basically leaving.

3.50pm:

Students from Wales will be spared an increase in their tuition fees regardless of where in the UK they go to university under plans outlined today, PA reports.

Responding to Government proposals to increase fees in England, Wales's education minister said Welsh students would pay the same fees in 2012 that they face this year.

Leighton Andrews told Welsh Assembly members he was proposing to pay for the subsidy by top-slicing the teaching grant for Welsh universities.

Universities in Wales will charge the same basic fee of £6,000 that is proposed for English institutions in 2012-13. They will be able to charge up to £9,000 if they can demonstrate a commitment to widening access and "other strategic objectives".

But Mr Andrews said the increase in fees for Welsh students would be paid for them.

In a statement to the Senedd chamber, he said: "In other words, the increase in fees for Welsh domiciled students, whether they study in England or Wales or Scotland or Northern Ireland, will be paid by the Welsh Assembly Government.

"Welsh domiciled students will not have to find either £6,000 or £9,000 to study.

"The public purse will continue to subsidise higher education for Welsh domiciled students.

"Welsh students who go to university in 2012-13 will be paying the same in real terms as students who go to university in this academic year."

Alright for some...

3.26pm:

The Metropolitan police say there are 500 protesters in Trafalgar Square now. Protesters are being "encouraged to leave".

Protesters are still not being allowed down Whitehall, the police force said in a statement on their website. Full text:

There are around 500 protesters in Trafalgar Square. We have set up cordons around this area, with police at exit points. In small groups the protesters are being encouraged to leave the area via these exit points. The agreed protest time was between 12-2 and this is now over, so we are encouraging protesters to leave Trafalgar Square enabling Londoners to get back to their normal routine. Protesters are not being allowed down Whitehall.

The Met's figure of 500 protesters seems quite low. Just 20 minutes ago (after the police statement above) Matthew Taylor estimated there were some 2,000 in Trafalgar Square, other reports put the figure at 2,000 plus.

• @mrmatthewtaylor Couple of thousand people now kettled in traf sq. A couple of missiles thrown and some scuffle with police#demo2010

3.14pm:

Here's some Twitter updates from protesters in Oxford, Leeds, Liverpool, Brighton, Birmingham:

• @sandig @adamgabbatt Protestors in Oxford, mainly secondary school students, have occupied County Hall. Some have made their way onto the roof.

• @JustAnonPG @AdamGabbatt Leeds students charge Students Services bldg housing VCs office. Police on scene, some still inside. #demo2010

• @violetmaze Liverpool : march banned but people broke through.road and rooftop sitins.kettling now in liverpool 1 . #nocuts #dayx2 #dayx#demo2010

• @DavidWeeble All #peaceful still. People in windows supporting us. Huge crowd. 100s @BrightonArgusJo #demo2010

• @Rumaanah I would like to make it very clear that there is NO and was NOT any violence between the protesters and police. #DEMO2010 #Birmingham

And finally, a message of support for protesters from Scandinavia:

• @tommyesp@AdamGabbatt In solidarity with British students, I skipped my morning lecture and slept in. No tuition fees in Norway; £9,000 is madness!

2.56pm:

The Metropolitan police have said the line of officers that formed across Whitehall this afternoon was not an attempt to contain protesters.

A statement on their website appears to be aimed at addressing some protesters' fears that they were going to be 'kettled' on Whitehall. Many protesters began marching down the street earlier this afternoon, but upon seeing a line of "hundreds" of police barring their way they turned and ran, causing the fragmented groups of protesters we are now seeing.

The Met police worked with organisers in advance to agree a suitable route from Trafalgar Square down to Parliament Square for a peaceful protest. However, today's march set off at an earlier time than agreed. This meant that the march began without a police escort. The police escort was essential due to gas main works on one side of Whitehall. As a result, a line of police officers formed a cordon across Whitehall. This line of police officers intended to steer the march to one side of the road and the agreed route. There was never any intention to contain the protesters. The march then broke into small groups, travelling in different directions. The march continues peacefully, however, it is causing some disruption for Londoners in the West End, in what are already difficult conditions due to the weather.

I'll be speaking to Simon Hardy, one of the people behind the London demonstration, shortly to get his perspective on whether the march set off earlier than planned.

2.41pm:

I've just spoken to Rumaanah Ellahi, a 17-year-old pupil at Cadbury sixth form college in Birmingham. She's part of a group of "around 50" students, most of them at university, who have occupied a room at Birmingham city council.

Rumaanah says 30 more students are in the reception downstairs, while police have prevented any more from walking in.

She says she wanted to "send a message to Nick Clegg" regarding the increase in tuition fees – increases which she says will prevent her from going to university.

Rumaanah says the group have food and are prepared to stay in the council building for some time. "We aren't moving anytime soon!," she tweeted me earlier.

2.10pm:

A round-up of the whereabouts of protesters in London, where it seems students protesting are now scattered all over the centre of the capital.

• The Guardian's Matthew Taylor is on the Strand, near the Royal Courts of Justice. "A discussion is ongoing about whether to go back to Trafalgar Square or carry on to the City," he told me just now.

• My colleague Haroon Siddique, out doing a bit of Christmas shopping on his day off, has just text to say some students are marching up Regent Street, chanting "Tory scum".

• Meanwhile, student Tom Chambers has got in touch to say he's with a "rather limp procession" of protesters on their way to Trafalgar Square – the main rallying point this morning, you may recall.

• New Statesman writer Laurie Penny is further east, tweeting regularly (latest): "This is going bloody fast, I'm out of breath. We're almost at st pauls. I wonder where it will end?"

1.54pm:

My colleague Paul Lewis has been looking into the contentious issue of 'kettling'. Some reports suggest that police in London attempted to pre-emptively contain protesters on Whitehall, and there are question marks over the legality of attempting to kettle protesters before they have really begun to protest.

Paul Lewis Photograph: Guardian

In terms of the letter of the law, there is a chance that Scotland Yard overstepped the mark today. I've just been in touch with Louise Christian, the human rights lawyer who is bringing a test case against the Met's policy of "kettling" to the European Court of Human Rights. The Law Lords previously ruled in the Met's favour in the Lois Austin case , hence the force's repeated claims that the tactics has been deemed "lawful". But it is not as simple as that, as senior officers need to prove that containing people was "proportionate" to the threat posed by a crowd. The notorious kettling of climate camp activists at last year's G20 protest is currently before a Judicial Review at the High Court over exactly this point. The stakes are high as the Met could lose money - and a lot of it - if it is shown to have arbitrarily imprisoned thousands of people.

If today's reports are true, and the Met tried to kettle students before their march had properly even begun, the commissioner could find himself in the dock yet again. There i evidence to support those reports - lines of police and pre-prepared barriers suggest there was a pen in Whitehall, into which police planned to funnel students. A kettle needs to be a response to evidence of disorder, rather than an entirely preemptive tactic that suppresses protest before it has begun. "I think what has happened runs contrary to the Law Lords ruling in the Austin case," Christian said. "It makes clear that they need to have an evidence-based approach. If they decide in advance that they are going to do it, then I suggest that would be unlawful."

Legality aside, there is also the question of whether the apparent plot worked. It is clear that when the march saw the kettle awaiting them, they sprinted off in various directions. The Met is currently dealing with a public order nightmare; separated groups of protesters marching their way around the London, on an ad-hoc route. Tweet reports of "feeder" marches in the Oxford Street, the Strand, Victoria, Embankment and Tottenham Court Road. My colleague Matt Taylor said there were "shambolic" scenes. How do you deal with that?

1.48pm:

...and a bit more from Cambridge and Newcastle, from students occupying universities there:

Cambridge

Nearly 1000 school students, trade unionists, and university students protested in Cambridge today in a national day of action against cuts to education and the public sector. The protest was joined by students from Cambridge University who have been in occupation in protest since Friday.

The students marched peacefully around Cambridge, though police escalated tension with two vans of riot cops on hand. Police have been stationed outside local Lib Dem-controlled council buildings throughout the day. The marchers have joined the occupying students inside Old Schools.

Newcastle

In the seventh day of occupation we have seen a successful demonstration through Newcastle city centre that was entirely peaceful. We wish to thank and applaud the Northumbrian Police for its cooperation with organizing this demonstration However, it is apparent that other police forces around the country have acted inappropriately and violently. We deplore these actions and believe that these are the cause of the violence seen at previous demonstrations.

1.44pm:

Updates from protesters in Cambridge and Newcastle:

• @CamDefendEd @adamgabbatt march has ended--hundreds of 6th-formers inside the Senate House grounds, and with us inside the occupation #demo2010 #dayx2

• @mikecsmith @AdamGabbatt Students at Newcastle holding a candle lit vigil at 5pm http://on.fb.me/fFUXKY

1.37pm:

Helen Self emails about the Bath protest:

The protest in Bath today is taking place from 3.30-5.30pm outside the Abbey, could you add that to the Guardian live blog. Around 800 people are expected to join in.

1.35pm:

There are student protests in Rome today as well as in the UK. Associated Press report that police vans and lines of officers in riot gear are blocking access to much of the centre of Rome, to keep thousands of protesters from reaching Parliament.

Lawmakers are voting on a contested reform bill many students and professors say will give the private sector too much involvement in the state university system. They claim funding cuts means faculty positions are going unfilled.

Similar protests snarled other cities, including Milan, Turin, Naples, Venice, Palermo and Bari. In Genoa, students protested under the slogan "they block our future, we block the cities."

Police blockades in Rome prevented several lines of marchers from converging on the square outside the Chamber of Deputies and blocked bus and tram routes.

John Hooper, Rome correspondent for the Guardian, is tweeting updates from the city @john_hooper:

• #student #protests in Rome. Maze of lanes round parliament sealed by police chicanes. Like Paris '68. But without a 'Daniele il Rosso'.

• Trick in #protests like this one in Rome is carry a right-wing paper and wear an overcoat. Police blocking #students just waved me through.

• For armchair followers of #student #protests, live video coverage here of Rome events http://ow.ly/3hqvs

• #Italy #student #protests. Motorway blocked near Bologna. Scuffles in Milan. Occupation of Cathedral in Palermo. Quiet as yet in Rome.

1.27pm:

Matthew Taylor (follow him @mrmatthewtaylor) tweets from the London protests:

• @mrmatthewtaylor #catandmouse demo now on Piccadilly circus more police now but couple of thousand protesters still in control #demo2010

1.17pm:

In among the marches and protests so far today, around 100 students have occupied a building at Nottingham University.

Here's the demands of the students who have taken over the university's Great Hall. I'll be speaking to one of them shortly.

1. We demand that the University of Nottingham lobby the Russell Group and the government and issue a statement condemning all cuts to higher education, the EMA and the rise in tuition fees. 2. We demand that the University of Nottingham implement a complete open book policy in regards to existing budget constraints. 3. We demand that the University of Nottingham ensure no redundancies for teaching, research or support staff. 4. Ensure that no victimization or repercussions for anyone participating in the occupation. 5. Allow free access in and out of the building.

1.05pm:

The NUS president Aaron Porter has written to Nick Clegg calling the Liberal Democrats u-turn on tuition fees a "betrayal". Porter was responding to Nick Clegg's letter claiming student protests could put people off going to university (see 8.30am)

The NUS president has set out why he thinks the government should be reconsidering the planned increases:

· The coalition have not properly considered a graduate tax and have dismissed the idea based on a 'pure graduate tax' system that has not been proposed · They recommend a foolish and extremely risky approach to funding the higher education sector, with a rapid move to an unconstrained market in which students meet almost the whole cost of teaching · They accept at face value the lazy myth that competition on price between universities leads to higher quality, and accepts the falsehood that fair access can be achieved through so-called 'needs blind' admissions and a trade in bursaries or scholarships, whilst dismantling the education maintenance allowance (EMA) and AimHigher schemes · They ignore the probability that with much higher fee levels, prospective students - especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds - will change their behaviour and make judgements primarily on prices, costs and debt

12.35pm:

My colleague Helene Mulholland reports that Vince Cable, who lest we forget is the cabinet minister in charge of tuition fees, has said he is prepared to abstain in a key vote on the government's tuition fees policy if that is what fellow Liberal Democrat MPs decide to do as a group.

The business secretary said he was prepared to take the unprecedented step of not backing his own proposals for the sake of party unity.

The party's 57 MPs are in talks this morning in a bid to find a solution to what he conceded was a "difficult" situation for the Tories' coalition partner amid growing grassroots pressure from within their own ranks to abide by their pre election pledge.

A petition signed by 104 former parliamentary candidates for the Lib Dems called on Cable and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, and their fellow MPs to abide by the pre-election pledge to vote against higher fees to avert "many more years back in the political wilderness".

Labour will trigger a vote on the plan to raise tuition fees to £9,000 in an opposition day debate this afternoon, which coincides with the third and largest national student demonstration against government plans to increase the cap on tuition fees from £3,375 to as much as £9,000 a year from 2012.

"If we all abstain then that is the position I am happy to go along with. There is an option that we all abstain together and we are considering that," Cable said.

"My own personal instinct - partly because I am the Secretary of State responsible for universities and partly because I think the policy is right - are very much to vote for it. But we have got to vote as a group, collectively, and we are discussing how we do that."

12.15pm:

Matt Taylor is out in central London and describes extraordinary scenes, where protesters have fled into St James Park to avoid the risk of kettling.

Matthew Taylor Photograph: Guardian

There is a big police presence around Westminster, scores of vans parked up the side streets on Whitehall including at least one carrying police horses.

A couple of hundred people gathered in Trafalgar Square, with a very vocal group gathered underneath Nelson's Column chanting "give us back our EMA" as well as some rather rude things about Nick Clegg.

The march set off down Whitehall as agreed, but half way down was a line of few hundred police. Demonstrators turned and ran back up towards Trafalgar Square, sprinting across Horse Guards Parade and generally scattering everywhere.

Police are now giving chase across Horse Guards Parade. The demonstration is much smaller than last time, but there's definitely two or three thousand here.

There are very large numbers of police in central London today – as this picture from @filkaler on Twitter shows.

12.04pm:

Hannah Waldram, the Guardian's beatblogger in Cardiff, says marches through the city are planned to start at 2pm today with a rally in the city's busiest shopping street at 3pm.

The group organising the event, Action Against Cuts Cardiff told me: "We continue to note that cutbacks in education and other public services, whether initiated by politicians in Westminster, Cardiff or anywhere else, are unnecessary and reckless and threaten the people in society with the greatest need."

More from Hannah on the Cardiff protests here.

11.54am:

... and an update from our very own Steven Morris:

Steven Morris byline picture Photograph: Guardian

Fewer students initially on Bristol demo this week. But unlike last they manage to get into the city centre. Marching down Broadmead and Haymarket, then running into Cabot Circus - city's new multi million pound shopping centre. Odd that police haven't stopped them this week. No violence still.

11.48am:

Bit of a round-up of some of the protests going on around the country:

• @ncloccupation @AdamGabbatt 40-50 occupying students have just left to go and join the protest. Snow will not put us off! #solidarity

• @LeedsStudent Leeds Student reporting from the second national day of action. One person already arrested #demo2010 #leedsmarch

• @RedplogHB @AdamGabbatt all of us at Sheffield Uni will be marching at 12.00 showing our #feesfury !!!

• @svejky About to go join protest. Cold and excited! If Yr in Manchester, get out there #UNIty #solidarity

11.36am:

I've just had a text from Simon Hardy, from the national campaign against fees and cuts, the group of activists from universities, colleges and schools across the country that co-ordinate action against tuition fees and education funding cuts.

The snow should not put people off – today's actions across the UK will hammer another nail in the coffin of the education cuts and fee increases.

Hopefully I'll be speaking to Simon a little later on.

11.32am:

Update from Matthew Taylor, in central London, where the snow appears to have stopped for the moment:

Matthew Taylor Photograph: Guardian

In Trafalgar Square there is a handful of soggy protesters and a few journalists. The plan today is that students will arrive here from 11am and then at about 12noon march down to Parliament Square – where there will be speeches and an "open mike".

They had agreed with police that the demonstration would finish at 3pm but interestingly some of the shopkeepers around Parliament Square say they have been told by the police that the students will be "held" there until 6pm.

Students who are setting up in Parliament Square are furious: "The police already seem to have decided to kettle the protest despite what happened last time and despite agreeing with us this week that the demo should finish at 3pm," said Maham Hashmi, from Soas (School of Oriental and African Studies).

11.20am:

Are you protesting today? Update us on your progress by Tweeting me @adamgabbatt.

You can also send your photographs of the protest to @gspix on Twitter. The Guardian's picture desk will be monitoring the feed through today, and we'll pull some of the snaps into the blog and (later on) into a gallery.

10.56am:

Shiv Malik reports from Trafalgar Square – where he "can't see any protesters" at the moment. (It is early of course. And snowing persistently, if not heavily).

I've just arrived into Charing Cross with a number of students. We were approached by police officers who asked if we were attending the protest. They then warned that the protest might go on longer than expected. Even if we wanted to leave, we might not be able to. I asked them if this meant there was going to be a kettle and they replied that "they knew what that meant, they couldn't be explicit, but this was one of the tactics that the police had in consideration for the day.

They then wished us good luck.

10.33am:

Steven Morris reports on plans for protests in Bristol:

Steven Morris byline picture Photograph: Guardian

Students into day nine of their occupation of a privately-run cafe at the University of the West of England in Bristol.

They say there's always 20 or 30 of them there, some sleeping in tents set up in the middle of the cafe. They're hoping 1,000 or so will turn out for today's demonstration in the city centre - there was a couple of thousand there last week.

Also hoping some of the school children who were there last week will appear again - they feel the police have to hold back when so many young teens are there.

But the students also feel they may be kettled today - last week the police kept them out of the shopping areas but allowed them to move relatively freely in the area around Bristol University.

10.16am:

On Twitter, @anywavewilldo is dishing out advice to those protesting today:

• http://bit.ly/gHp8Nr #kettle and demo survival guide - stay warm today! #demo2010 #dayx #shamelessretweetingofownblog ;0) #solidarity

From her blog post:

• Think about keeping warm - lots of layers, a hat and gloves are good. Pick light things you can put in a rucksack. The gold or silver survival blankets you see at marathons are brilliant. Protesters have slept out for days with them and they fold into a pocket. Cost about £3 from an outdoor shop. • Wear a rucksack rather than another type of bag - they don't get pulled off as easy and they protect your back if you get charged by horses, pushed over or hit with a baton. Some protesters even take cycle helmets. Wear plain clothes so you don't stand out and you don't mind loosing, swapping or giving/ throwing away. • get a 'clean' phone - If the police take your mobile they know everyone you are mates with and who your family are which can be upsetting. Also you feel really bad if you loose your phone. Buy a cheap mobile and new sim for cash then it doesn't matter what happens to it.

9.56am:

My colleague Patrick Kingsley reports on an apparent u-turn by the NUS president Aaron Porter.

National union of students (NUS) president Aaron Porter has already reneged on a promise made only on Sunday in which he pledged the NUS would "organise financial, legal and political aid for all current and future occupations."

The Cambridge university occupation – who were yesterday afternoon issued with a possession order by university authorities – asked Porter to provide them with specific NUS legal support. But Porter refused, arguing that NUS can only offer general legal advice about occupiers' rights, rather than legal support for individual occupations, in a declaration which seemed to contradict the promises he made on Sunday.

Porter did not respond to requests from the Guardian for comment last night but he did make the following statements on his Twitter account, @aaronporter:

• not sure what the fuss is. @nusuk is seeking legal advice on occupiers' right. But can't on a case by case basis.

• @CamDefendEd @UCLOccupation we can seek legal advice that covers occupiers rights. Not individual legal costs for every student.

Porter's apparent u-turn came only a day after promising students at the University College London (UCL) to organise financial, legal and political aid for all occupations and apologising for his "spineless" lack of prior support for university occupations.

The Cambridge occupation criticised Porter for only offering advice "which is already freely available on the internet."

The occupiers said the NUS had "failed" them. "We are being failed by institutions which are meant to be standing up for us - this is why we need to step up to act and resist."

A statement released by the UCL occupation yesterday also criticised Porter's actions: "The UCL occupation is disappointed it has taken just one day for Aaron Porter to renege on his promise to provide financial and legal support to occupations.

"The excuse that NUS cannot provide support to individual students is thin - as a national organisation it has unparalleled access to those willing to offer pro bono legal advice and representation. We urge Aaron to reconsider before he loses the goodwill and unity created yesterday, and hope that his acceptance of other proposals is not under threat."

9.20am:

Last night fifteen police officers were injured and four people arrested outside Lewisham town hall in south-east London, where demonstrators gathered to protest outside a meeting where councillors were voting to cut the council budget by £60m.

Officers had to call for help from the Metropolitan police's Territorial Support Group as 100 protesters tried to force their way into the building, the Guardian reported.

A spokesman for the Met police told me this morning that fifteen officers suffered "minor injuries" while policing the demonstration. Two were hurt badly enough to spend the night in hospital, one with a broken finger and another being treated for the smoke inhalation after inhaling fumes from protesters' flares.

Here's a video from thegoldengirlk8 on Youtube taken outside the council meeting.

Sue Luxton, a former Green party councillor who was returning home from work at 6.45pm, said she saw 200 to 300 protesters, including a large number of students from Goldsmiths College.

"People were angry because the council had arranged for only 40 people to attend the meeting, although many wanted to be there," Luxton said. "About 100 people tried to rush in. I think the police were little overwhelmed. There were police with riot shields and police horses. The area was cordoned off – buses couldn't get through."

Darren Johnson, a Green councillor, said he voted against the cuts along with two Conservatives. The Labour majority voted in favour while the Liberal Democrats abstained.

"There are better ways of doing these rather deep cuts in frontline services," Johnson said. "I spoke of the importance of reducing high salaries of officers and cutting budgets for consultants, PR and marketing. These cuts will mean the closure of an early learning centre and less street cleaning."

8.50am:

Martin Wainwright reports that the weather could "release armies of school students", what with many schools closed today and all. (Where schools and colleges aren't closed the inclement weather could also encourage pupils to stay inside, of course):

Martin Wainwright Photograph: Guardian

Snow is causing serious disruption in the North East and Yorkshire but young people are less likely to be deterred from going out than their seniors, such as myself. School closures are widespread too. Three of the five online council information services in West Yorkshire were down this morning because of heavy use. That promises to release armies of school students for the marches and rallies planned in all the regions' university centres. Student organisers are actively encouraging this after sixth formers' youthful enthusiasm stole many of the headlines last week.

8.30am:

Tens of thousands of school, college and university students are expected to protest against education cuts today, in the third day of demonstrations this month. Last night the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, who has become something of a focus for protesters after reneging on a pre-election promise to oppose tuition fees, said the demonstrations could put young people off going to university.

Over 6,000 people have signed up for a day of direct action in London alone, where the national campaign against fees and cuts has organised a march on parliament, and where last week thousands of school pupils and students were "kettled" by police for several hours.

Over the weekend NUS president Aaron Porter apologised for his "spineless" lack of public support for last week's demonstration, when tens of thousands of students walked out of lessons. Porter, who did not attend last week's demonstrations, said in his blog he wanted to "announce my support for a new wave of action, spurred on and supported by NUS and Students' Unions said today's protests will have NUS backing".

However after the NUS president came out in support of the demonstrations he received a letter from Clegg last night. "All of us involved in this debate have a greater responsibility to ensure that we do not let our genuinely-held disagreements over policy mean that we sabotage an aim that we all share - to encourage people from poorer backgrounds to go to university," Clegg wrote.

Lib Dems are expected to vote against a Labour motion in the Commons today which calls on ministers to delay legislation on the fees hike until after they have published a White Paper spelling out their vision of the future of higher education.

On the nationwide Facebook page for the demonstrations, almost 25,000 students have indicated they will be protesting across the UK today. "Direct action", ranging from walking out of lessons to rallies is expected in over 40 towns and cities, with crowds of around 2,000 expected in Manchester, Bristol and Brighton.

Some 32 universities are still being occupied following last Wednesday's protests, with most planning to keep a small group in the seized buildings while fellow students march.