VOCAL protestors brought Brighton city centre to a standstill as they marched calling for free education.

Around one hundred demonstrators met for a rally at The Level before they made their way down Richmond Place accompanied by a police escort. 

The marchers chanted "what do we want? Free education. When do we want it? Now" and other anti-austerity chants as they moved through Brighton.

The demonstrators were calling for fairer tuition fees, a higher minimum wage and rent caps for private landlords.

Students and supporters stopped outside a University of Brighton building but were denied entry by police and security as they staged a traffic-stopping a rally in the road.

Police formed a barricade to deny the protestors entry to the Churchill Square and the marchers moved on without incident.

Cops also stopped protestors trying to enter the Richmond Place university building for a second time when they returned.

In December, more than 400 demonstrators brought the city to a standstill as they staged a similar protest from The Level to Churchill Square Shopping Centre.

Throughout the march there was a strong police presence as officers on foot and on motorcycles flanked the demonstrators throughout with rolling roadblocks.

The march came to an end on William Street as organisers disbanded the dwindling group as they failed to gain access to the University of Brighton's Arts Building via the back entrance.

Sussex Police issued a statement following the protest saying organisors "failed to engage with Sussex Police about their plans".

Chief Inspector Katy Woolford, who led the policing operation, said: "Residents and visitors may have seen more police officers on the streets as we were determined to ensure the public was kept safe during the protest.

"Unfortunately the organisers of the march failed to speak to us before the event despite our attempts to contact them which meant we could not be sure what their plans for the day involved.

"We had spoken to many businesses in the days before the march about the possibility that the protesters might try to get into their buildings to cause disruption and I would like to thank them for their assistance. Some of those businesses used extra security staff who were ready to tell protesters to leave if it had been necessary.

"I would particularly like to thank the public for their patience. Unfortunately some did face delays because we had to close some roads briefly as the protesters marched in the carriageway, at times against the flow of traffic.

"Thankfully no one was injured and most of the extra officers who had been drafted in were able to be stood down before 4.30pm. No arrests were made."

For a full report see Monday's Argus.