A student union leader has been banned from attending protests on or near any university campus on condition of bail.

University of London Union (ULU) president Michael Chessum was arrested on Thursday in Malet Street in Bloomsbury.

He had just left a meeting with University of London management over their planned closure of the union.

The university wishes to replace the union with a toothless new administrative body, which would focus primarily on student services and be barred from organising direct action and protest.

This led to a protest across the central London campus on Wednesday that saw students clashing with police and security guards, with Mr Chessum being arrested for failing to inform the police of the protest.

His arrest caused a solidarity demonstration outside Holborn police station and was described by ULU as "a clear attack on the right to protest."

The union has subsequently slated the bail conditions imposed on Mr Chessum and described his arrest as "a transparent and shameful attempt to intimidate students from demonstrating against the actions of university management."

A statement released by the union said: "Michael Chessum has now been released but his bail conditions ban him from protesting on, or within half a mile of, any university campus, despite his job as University of London student president often requiring him to take part in such events."

As well as organising demonstrations ULU has announced that it will be holding a referendum between November 15 and December 12 asking its 120,000 members the question: "Should ULU's building, activities and campaigns continue to be run democratically by students?"