The column of marching students (above left) seen from half a mile away, was an impressive sight. We had driven on ahead of the demonstration to see what lay along the road. Sure enough, there was a specially errected Palestinian Authority checkpoint after Surda, just inside Palestinian autonomous zone "A", on the way to Ramallah.
I asked the Palestinian Police officer commanding the checkpoint, First Lieutenant Nimr Baghdad (meaning "The Tiger of Baghdad", pictured above right talking with Public Relations photographer Yasser Darweesh), if the students would be let through the checkpoint.
"Our authority," he replied, "is democratic, so we will let the students through. But," he added, "we are still waiting for orders."
I smiled. So that's why the checkpoint is there, I thought, to allow people to move freely.
The students arrived at the checkpoint at 11.30am (right), and stopped to decide what to do, as the way was blocked by the police.
Has anyone else noticed the remarkable resemblance of these policemen to soldiers? It's uncanny. The Israeli police and soldiers, who used to frequent Ramallah, were similarly indistinguishable from each other apart from a patch on their chest that said "POLICE" in Hebrew.
Being armed to the teeth is a recipie for disaster when your beat is crowded city streets. A bullet from a Kalashnikov can pass through a foot of breeze block. After the last year and a half, I don't think I'd wouldn't blink twice if I visited UK and saw a London 'bobby' carrying an M16. Time to check myself into the hotel with padded walls.
As events developed, it was obvious that the students were going to be prevented from moving through the checkpoint, so leaders from them came forward and began negotiations with the police.
After an hour of discussions between the students, who continually demanded to see Arafat to present him with a letter, the police and governor of Ramallah Mustapha 'Issa or "Abu Firaas" (pictured left, on right of photo), it seemed clear that there was not going to be any movement.
CNN and all the other camera crews that had suddenly turned up had interviewed everyone in sight and things had been getting a little slow. It was time to act or go home. Yet, what happened next took us all by surprise...