OCCUPY Democracy protesters braced themselves for another evening of police violence yesterday after managing to hold out for three nights.

Activists plan to stay on Parliament Square until next Sunday, with workshops and speeches set to go ahead throughout the week. 

Organisers hope the event will highlight questions of democracy in Britain following the Scottish referendum debate. 

Instead, Sunday night saw police violence reach new heights with several hundred police officers laying into protesters.

King’s College London student Alex had just arrived at the site when things started heating up.  

“[The police] started handing out leaflets explaining how sitting on a tarpaulin was illegal because of some bylaw.”

Under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 any form of camping has been banned from the area.

Section 3 of the legislation prohibits “any other structure that is designed, or adapted, (solely or mainly) for the purpose of facilitating sleeping or staying in a place for any period.”

Alex witnessed: “They kept stepping up — at that point they started taking out batons — just hitting us away as they took away the tarpaulin.”

Much like the night before, police retrieved not only any piece of equipment that could be considered part of the camp but also protesters’ personal belongings. 

Another young man at the camp, Rory, told the Morning Star at one point he “saw one police officer walk off with a bunch of bottles of water.

“I said: ‘Obviously that’s not part of the [camp] structure, can we have that back?’ And he said ‘No’.

“They were taking umbrellas, camp chairs, they were just essentially taking everything they could.”

Things calmed down by 7pm when comedian Russell Brand came down to the square with several batches of pizza for the occupiers. 

Yet protesters still complained of harassment and intimidation from the police, who reportedly stood almost on top of the food, meddled during organising meetings and apprehended people for lying down and allegedly sleeping.  

Occupier Obi said: “I didn’t realise how pernicious and how draconian the police have become since Occupy LSX was evicted back in 2012.

“I can see them provoking.”

Today will see a series of sessions on how the privatisation of our schools, hospitals and other public services has affected our democracy.

Film director Ken Loach, Green Party London Assembly Member Jenny Jones and Stop the War Coalition national officer Chris Nineham are set to speak at other events this week. 

Mr Brand has not confirmed if he will be back at Occupy Democracy or deliver any more pizzas.

The camp has been a hub for creativity and communal debate — with occupiers playing guitar, debating and informative talks taking place in the evenings.

Obi remained defiant: “We will be here till next Sunday.”