Thousands of students and education workers today gathered to demonstrate under the slogan ‘United for Free Education’. Beyond the sea of purple NUS and red Socialist Worker Party placards, some protesters drew on intellectual creativity, artistic flare and swear words to make their message unique. Here are some of our favourites:

1. This placard showing love for migrants and hate for the PM. In case you can’t make it out, the contents of those parenthesis are “Please, take the bitch”

2. When you kindly ask the government, can you… please

3. The placard being carried by a transvestite Theresa May

4. And on the topic of transvestites and Theresa May, this placard from an angry RuPaul fan

5. And from another angry fan. Shockingly, the University of Leeds ≠ Hogwarts

6. A nuanced and hard-hitting metaphor (unless his detective skills are considerably better than his spelling)

7. From a particularly cunning demonstrator

8. A feminist perspective on hegemonic ideology

9. This razor-sharp placard weaponizing irony

10. Its a good point…

11. From a real artiste

12. 21st century solidarity:

13. “Be realistic, demand the impossible!”

14. And finally, short and to the point