Staff at the University of Leeds went on strike on Thursday in protest over pay and cuts to higher education. They proceeded to join striking staff from Leeds Met and other members of the public on a march towards Victoria Square. LS Head of Photography Leo Garbutt was there and brings you a round-up of the day’s events in pictures.

Staff represented by UNISON (above), UCU (below) and UNITE picket outside the Woodhouse Lane entrance to Leeds University.

Below: Staff outside the Parkinson Building inform students and passers-by of their reasons for striking.

Service staff, also affected by pay and departmental cuts, joined lecturers on the picket line:

Members of Leeds Revolutionary Socialists show solidarity with union affiliated University staff and picket the entrance to Leeds University off Lyddon Terrace (below). In addition to disputes over pay and cuts to their departments, many Leeds University staff expressed their political opposition to the Coalition government’s marketisation of higher education.

Below: Escorted by police, striking members of staff, students and other members of the public begin their march.

The procession brought traffic to a standstill and drew onlookers out onto the streets with loud chants of “they say cut back, we say fight back!” and “Tories out!”:

Protestors gather in Victoria Square to hear representatives from different unions deliver rousing speeches.

Below: (from top) Ann Blair, President of Leeds UCU and Paul Blackledge, Leeds Met UCU Secretary.

(Below, from top) Kath Owen, Leeds Uni UNISON rep: “We are defending higher education from marketisation. We believe and know we can win on fair pay” and Millie Cooper, President of Leeds Met SU.

Richard Miles, UCU rep at Leeds College of Art, discussed pay cuts in the light of his College’s £1.6m budget surplus. He repeated the question of a fellow College board member: “what are we doing with this surplus?”

Lesley McGorrigan, UCU Regional Secretary for Yorkshire and Humberside (below) delivers a impassioned speech against cuts to higher education and the wider economic policies of the Coalition government.

Paul Bridge, a UCU national official, is the last key speaker of the protest. He said it was “a proud day for all members of the three unions” involved in strike action.

Find Leo Garbutt on Twitter @leogarbutt and on Facebook.