24 hours in occupied London: The full story

Inside, where I've walked in on a meeting in progress, 50-odd students are slumped on chairs amidst piles of sleeping bags and discarded placards, discussing how best to respond to a letter received from the university's director, Howard Davies. Behind the speaker is a white board with details of the week's rules: "No alcohol/drugs allowed" and "Lights out midnight / general meeting 9am and 6pm daily".

Much debate as to whether I should be allowed to stay. They finally agree – they all have a say in this – that I should return later.

Back in the anteroom, a small group polishes off some sugared doughnuts while sketching out a three-metre-long banner. Food is all paid for by a kitty reliant on student donations although it surfaced that one student's proud dad had picked up a bag of Brick Lane bagels that morning, which "went down amazingly".

One volunteer, Christy, tells me he has been here on and off since Friday, probably around six hours per day. "I am officially bored of takeaways", he admits. "Aside from the cause, which I care very strongly about, we've made some good friends, even people you wouldn't think you'd have sympathies with," he claims.

We are joined by Alice Stott, 19, who says she is "here to represent the women." Both agree the place is clean enough - "not quite a pigsty" - and that mobilising the troops hasn't been too hard. Stott says she's relied on silent flashmobs in the university's library although someone else shouted through a megaphone on the roof earlier in the day and they've also tried shout-outs in lectures. "Thursday at noon is what we're waiting for because we'll all join the big march.

Basically we are making sure there isn't a single person who doesn't know this is happening", declares Christy.

4pm. People file out, agreeing to return for the 6pm general meeting. A small child scribbles on paper while her mother gets to work on a "Cut Capitalism" banner. Though not a student herself, I discover she is horrified at the prospect of her young daughter having student debt in years to come, and came to join in.

"There is a general level of skank around here", declares an older student, at which point a minor cleaning operation begins. I leave them trying to work out how to find more bin liners and help out painting a green and red poster with the words We Need You To Save Education marked out. Jokes about the importance of "raising awaaahness" are made referencing YouTube infamous Gap Yar video 5pm. On one side of the hall, Matt Wilde, a 28-year-old PHD student sits down to "finish the chapter of my PHD that I keep trying to write and have re-written a million times today" but is interrupted by the announcement of the proposed retaliation letter to Howard Davies. The mood lifts and twenty students cheer from the sidelines as the letter is read aloud.

7pm: following the general meeting attended by around 100 students, two bags of oranges are dropped off by Paul Strong, a lecturer in support of his students: "I gave some money earlier but thought I'd help the fight against scurvy this time as there doesn't seem to be much fruit around." Then he adds cheerfully: "I'm proud of this lot, though – they're doing a great job."

On my way out, Yasmin Ahmed, 20, admits the difficulties of mixing protests with essay deadlines: "I'm here about five hours so it's hard getting to lectures and meeting deadlines. But I'll be here until midnight I think."

11.15pm As promised, I receive a text from Ahmed: "About 15 people here, just ordered pizza, everyone's chilled out and some people are working. No plans for now until 8am".

12.25am Announcement text from Christy: "There will be a demonstration outside Lynne Featherstone's office today at 11am. Several universities including LSE
are attending. NUS will be dressing up as suffragettes." 5 minutes later: "Everything's confirmed. I'm home tonight, thank god. Completely knackered. Need to recharge my batteries"

KINGS
6.15pm students at KCL are celebrating the anniversary of a week-long occupation inside the K2.31 lecture theatre on Strand campus. Inside, 15 are taking part in a Q&A following a talk on climate change with Suzanne Jefferies of Campaign against ClimateChange. Everyone claps as one front row student declares she is from the London Met and "just here to show support". Students get on with studying on laptops or checking Facebook, Twitter and government blogs for updates. According to one: "The internet is useful but really there is no substitute for face to face so we try and get out and talk to people on campus".

A small table is piled high with donations of Mr Kipling cakes, bananas and fizzy drinks. Sleeping bags are stored in a cloakroom while walls are covered with timetables of events and a growing list headed "UK Universities in Occupation" – 19 in total.

A text arrives and another hand shoots up: "Everyone, students have occupied the Civic Room in Newcastle." More applause and the Q&A draws to a close.

22-year-old student councillor, Matt Williamson strolls over to express enthusiasm for the evening's general meeting. "It's planned for 8pm and could go on for hours – it takes a while to make decisions. I doubt we'll get much sleep and, hey, it gets a bit chilly but it could be worse", admits Williamson, grey bags visible under his eyes.

I ask another group if there is any romantic gossip – being cramped up for so long could make it an awkward morning after. They shuffle around nervously until Hesham Yafari, 21, beams and says: "Ok yeah, so it can get a bit awkward", to which his friends chip in: "Let's just say he should be called Hesham "Don Juan" Yafari".

"Haha, yeah, it's funny how after a few days here you start to think of the university as your playground – even seeing other students in the corridor seems strange when you stagger out at 9am", Williamson adds.

I leave as preparations for the Amnesty International talk at 7pm get underway.

11.30pm Yafari texts me: "Our general meeting had around 50 people; we've now got some cardboard boxes to make placards out of; "Cutmas" carols" are being rehearsed ahead of tomorrow's performance at noon; Nick Clegg's declaration is being played out on the big screen to a chorus of disapproval; the GM agreed a
desire to work hard and maintain a pleasant relationship with the management. Still waiting on feedback from other London and national meetings before Thursday's plan is totally finalised. The food table is being crowded around – long day! Sorry so sporadic."

KCL Wednesday plan of action: Midnight-8am. General planning and some sleep.

9.30am tube takeover – organised by KCLSU. Meet at the Waterfront for a day spent spreading the word on the London Tube.
11am Carol against the Cuts with the Courthauld Institute – parodies of carols.
1pm KCLSU and UCU Rally outside Strand

SOAS
1:30pm In the occupied Brunei Gallery at SOAS (School of Oriental and Asian Studies) Adam Hanieh a Development Studies tutor is talking to a crowd of some 150 students, all sitting quietly, dutifully on seats or perched on tables, about global consumption, the deepening of neoliberalism and how our response to the economic crisis should be globally united. Students nod and "mmm hmm" in agreement at his words.

The room, say the students, is usually used for corporate events "cheese and wine evenings", which is why it was chosen as an appropriate place to occupy.

The edges of the room are clogged with rucksacks, discarded food, newspapers and the remains of banner-making sessions. On the wall behind the speaker a home-made poster asks: "How do you expect to win free education when you can't even do the dishes?" Below it, a table with tea and coffee.

2pm Next to speak is another Development Studies tutor Subir Sinha and then Paolo Novak, both with more to say on the problems of neoliberalism. Students filter in and out in dribs and drabs. Some are filming the talks, some stay in put but spend the time studying on laptops. A girl in short summer shorts emerges from the "bedroom" hidden behind screens at the far end of the room. Back there piles of sleeping bags, blow up beds and a few students remain. The talks plod on and a diligent audience stays seated. Rosa Wild, 22, a second year Politics and Persian Studies student has been occupying the Brunei Gallery now for 16 days (although she has had "a couple of night's off," she says). "We've instituted a strict 12 o'clock bedtime now," she says "because people are just getting exhausted staying up until 2 o'clock every night. Usually events wrap up by about 10 o'clock and then we kind of wind down. We often go out and visit other occupations in the evenings.

"It feels empowering to be a part of this," she says. "It's a historical moment."

7pm Back at SOAS the talks have finished and just nine people are left in the room. A group of boys including 22-year-old sociology student, Frank and 19-year-old Arabic and Hebrew student Chris are sitting behind a screen at the back of the room on sleeping bags and blow-up mattresses eating a packet of dates.

They have become friends through the occupation and hadn't known each other previously. "At this time of day we sit eating and chatting about political issues. There might be a little jam session," says Chris. They haven't eaten yet and are not sure what is going to happen for dinner this evening, but Chris explains that sometimes people donate food or money to buy food and other times sandwiches are brought in - taken from the bins of the nearby Pret a Manger, Starbucks or Eat cafes. They expect to be up early in the morning, and in the afternoon protesters will be going to speak to the various SOAS schools to encourage them to join the walk out and demonstration on Thursday.

UCL
3pm At UCL the students have also picked what they consider to be a corporate room - the Jeremy Bentham Room - to occupy. Although, one student tells me that some societies have been displaced by the occupation and have probably been alienated from the cause as a result. A wallpaper of events so far runs along two walls. Around 200 students are milling around or centered at work hubs labelled Press, Media, Events and IT. The IT team, I'm told, is incredibly busy. Headed up by a professional web programmer, Sam, who is using his annual leave to support the cause and has been in occupation continuously for the last 10 days, the IT team looks after the UCL occupation website, Twitter feed, online calendar webmail and documents, flickr, YouTube and Vimeo accounts. "It's up to the individual," says Sam, "but many of us work through the night to get all the work done."

Kal, 22, material science and engineering student also on the IT team explains: "There's a flat hierarchy here. There are two main meetings at 6pm and 10am where there is a consensus system and everyone gets to have their say...You have a breakdown of workgroups. It's very organic. People know what they are doing and contributing where they know how to."

Three girls are painting a banner in black, pink and green that reads "Don't cut our education, support our occupation". Just then, Aaron a 26-year-old Phd Political Science student announces that they are "leaving now" to take part in a flashmob. The plan is to head to the office of Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes. The exact plan is under wraps, but the idea is to put up a "For Sale to the highest bidder" sign up outside the office.

4pm The events team has been contacting Tony Benn and Caroline Lucas in the hope that one or both might have time to come to the occupation to give a talk or offer their support. Meanwhile they have managed to secure an appearance from Razorlight for a Wednesday night performance around 9pm (they hope).

One of the events team, Danny, has come down from Cambridge Univeristy to show solidarity since his own term has finished. I ask if anyone will be here in two weeks' time if they don't get evicted.

"I don't think I'm going to miss Christmas with my mum for this." says Physics student, Mike. In reality, nobody knows if they will be there past Thursday.

Second year English student, Sofie, on the press team announces to the room that the RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers) has teamed up with the UCL Occupation to produce a leaflet promoting both the students' and Tube workers' causes. It calls Nick Clegg and Boris Johnson "The Two-Faced Twins" for going back on their pre-election pledges.

A two-hour direct action training begins with students initially unenthusiastic about joining in. Leader JJ rallies a few troops and they are told: "Direct action is fundamentally about misbehaving with our bodies" before beginning to play games and take part in trust exercises in which students are asked to call out their names before falling to the ground in the hope that fellow protesters will catch them. There's a "whoa!" as one student, Sam, almost hits the floor.

The Vice Provost Rex Knight goes into a meeting with students and their legal representative, Kat Craig to discuss the outcome of the morning's court case that will decide if the occupation should be evicted. All media are excluded, but an announcement of news via Twitter that the court decision has been postponed until the morning. Cheers and claps from the floor are cut short by Sofie on the media team saying that nobody can yet put this out as an official line.

5pm Some students are beginning to look around for food. In the kitchen and one of the sleeping areas there are tins of canned soup, bags of cous cous, pasta, tea and coffee. There is a dank smell and the room is freezing. Laura, a European Social and Political Studies student says that there "used to be a kitchen working group, but now people buy food ad hoc." Usually after the General Meeting at 6pm, people will go out and buy food using money donated by supporters of the cause. There is also a PayPal account to collect donations, but these are "Fighting Funds" and not to be used on food.

Lawyer Kat Craig re-enters the room and the direct action training group along with the rest of the room stops to cheer and clap her entrance. They are delighted that she has managed to delay a decision on eviction for another night.
In a side room a rehearsal is beginning for the Opposition Choir performance later. I go along to join in and we practise a version of The 12 Days of Christmas with alternative lyrics written by student Maeve.

6pm After a failed attempt to at securing permission to perform our Condem Christmas Carol on an outdoor stage set up for a charity event in the main UCL Quadrangle this evening, we head back inside to perform to the occupation. We sing "On the first day of Christmas the Condems gave to me, a three-fold increase in my fees" to the delight of the room. A video of our performance is instantly posted on YouTube http://bit.ly/CondemChristmas. Next up is a poet performing his verse about the coalition government and the public spending cuts.

Just before the evening General Meeting begins a lecturer from the Psychology department comes in to offer his support and asks students to join him in a quick rendition of Michael Jackson's Thriller dance. We all join in - not quite sure what the message behind the dance is.

As the General Meeting begins students vote to remove all press from the room. We make our exit.
8pm Phd student, Aaron, is back from the flashmob. "We were told upfront that there was going to be a police van with riot police in the back carrying CS spray. We were facing arrests so we demobilised," he said. "This was a bit of a recce mission just to see what sort of high security we're facing come Thursday. Given the events that have happened it's clear the London Met has really lost all sense of proportion with regard to how to react to the student threat," he says.

RCA
8pm There are uproarious screams approaching the JCR of the RCA - but these turn out to come from the bar. Nonetheless there is an intense atmosphere under the home-made banners of the unicorn from the RCA's crest sparring with a pair of scissors among students discussing both the best tactics to lobby MPs over the fees increases and the ways in which the funding cuts are especially damaging to arts schools. Artist Bob and Roberta Smith jokes about inviting David Davis to join the protest and sees the cumulative effect of government arts cuts as "an unprecedented war on culture. What have we done to deserve this when in the arts this country is like Muhammad Ali?"

Mark McGowan, who seven years ago rolled a peanut with his nose from Goldsmiths College to Number 10 in protest at top-up fees is in the audience, and Jarvis Cocker has sent a supportive message to the student union vice president about joining the march on Thursday: "Shall I meet you at the plinth? If you want me to say anything I'll be happy to oblige. Smash the system!" The idea of the night is to talk through the possibilities and decide what action to take - some reckon they should make a radical statement as "the college is too tame to do anything".

9.30pm Some rum shots at UCL with crusading young feminist Laurie Penny who has been supporting and reporting on the occupations and the protests since the start and sleeping most nights in the building. We talk catering - the core occupiers are sustained by donations of food and money to buy food and take it in turns to cook in the adjoining kitchen - "a wonderful commune set up".

Three young men come in wearing black tie, explaining they have just been to a college dinner with provost Malcolm Grant, originally scheduled for the occupied room and moved to a smaller venue.

GOLDSMITHS
6pm About 200 students meet in Goldsmiths library to vote on whether or not to allow library staff to return. Staff have been prevented from working since the occupation began on Monday at 9pm. The debate gets heated, before a huge majority vote in favour of allowing them back in.

7pm The atmosphere has relaxed at Goldsmiths as around 40 students prepare for a night in the library. There is a buzz in the air as people sit around talking and prepare campaign materials. One girl is making a pair of curtains. Pizza is mentioned. If they sleep at all, it's on the floor in the computer room, but many of them will be up all night.

10.30pm Goldsmiths College has hosted "practical" classes in avoiding being kettled by the police and an outreach department is forging links with local schools for Thursday's protest march, including Haberdashers Aske's, whose authorities acted frostily towards pupils high profile involvement in the November 24 Whitehall protests. An outfit called the Unviersity for Strategic Optimism sticks up photocopies of David Cameron's recent article for the Standard justifying fees rises with words and phrases tippexed out and replaced to turn it into a swivvel-eyed neoliberal screed. A performance poetry slot includes sets by Northern indie rapper and wordsmith, Ruby Kid and impassioned Blakean south-east Londoner, Kate Tempest, for whom the unruly gaggle of students and the odd lecturer finally fall silent. Later striking singer Iva of three-piece thrash band Rough Kittens draws a crowd fascinated by her impressive catawalling, leopard skin leggings and accompanying outsize teddy bear.

12.30am Late at night, the RCA decides to go into occupation - the 9th London college to do so. Becky and Joe and Leah and Anna struggle with a banner which refuses to fully unfurl out of a window of the Common Room block. Professor of Sculpture Richard Wentworth has sent a text saying he is "there in spirit". Security has been around after the college closed at midnight and told them they shouldn't be there but the students hope that staff are sympathetic, as their protest is as much about saving their jobs (and a wider social statement) as about fees. They haven't worked out where they will sleep but vow to stay up all night planning action for Thursday.