Those who arrived early for the demo decided to take their representations in person to the lobby of the building. Parked outside the entrance was a van load of Policemen, who unlike the journos present, managed not to notice around 20 people with placards and a banner walking into the main reception. Fortunately for the Police (and the beeb) the invaders were mostly students and peaceniks without a single Hamas militant or suicide bomber to be seen among them.

So upon arrival the protesters were told that the Director General was unavailable for comment so they decided to sit down and wait for him. At this point several bewildered cops burst in and proceeded to throw the press out and have one of those awkward conversations with the regular residents of the building about what to do next?

One particularly comic moment occurred when a BBC camera crew showed up and entered the building having shown their BBC passes to the Police to get in. They were then promptly thrown out by their own security despite the obvious editorial control which the beeb would have over whatever they shot. Or were they just worried that it might end up on You Tube?