Organisers of a march for free education denounced the National Union of Students (NUS) yesterday after the organisation retracted its support at the 11th hour.

Campaigners were not best pleased with a statement from the NUS executive arguing that the November 19 demonstration could pose an "unacceptable level of risk" to participants.

National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts (NCAFC) spokeswoman Hannah Sketchley told the Star people were "incredibly disappointed" in the NUS.

"But given that it is a shadow of a student union and acts in favour of bureaucracy rather than the actual student movement, we are not incredibly surprised," she added.

The move is all the more controversial because this year's NUS conference passed an unprecedented free-education policy vowing to organise a national demonstration.

In September, the union's executive officially endorsed the November 19 march.

Two weeks ahead of the demonstration NUS president Toni Pearce pulled the plug, arguing that as well as lack of disabled access, "there is no public liability insurance in place."

"NUS has policy to support free education and we will continue to lobby and campaign for this, but no action that we take should be put above the ability for all our members to be safe," said Ms Pearce.

The protest organisers have published a 10-point list with health and safety information for the day.

It includes information on first aid, demonstration leaving points and "safety of protesters from the police."

Despite the last-minute sleight from the NUS, organisers said students and supporters would not be discouraged.

"I've spoken to quite a lot of people who have booked coaches and they are not particularly phased," explained Ms Sketchley.

Many took to social media to vent their frustration with the NUS position.

Salford University students' union vice-president Todd Hewitt wrote on Twitter: "The way NUS has withdrawn support for the #freeeducation demo really sticks in the throat of even me as a moderate lefty."

In a personal statement on Facebook, NCAFC organiser Beth Redmond also spoke of her frustration with the national union, saying: "We are building a movement. We are literally doing the job the NUS should be doing but for no money."