The British government is hoping the second wave of fuel protests and the so-called "Jarrow Crusade" might speedily collapse, caught in a pincer movement of a toughened police stance and the pre-budget concessions of the Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown.
However, it will be later today before ministers can gauge the scale of the threatened convoy intending to travel from the northeast in time for a mass rally in Hyde Park on Tuesday.
Twelve heavy goods vehicles started out from Berwick-upon-Tweed yesterday, intent on joining the main demonstration scheduled to leave the Newcastle area later today. There were reports that Northumbria police were considering action following the decision by North Yorkshire police to obtain an injunction preventing the protesters entering the flood-hit city of York.
And amid doubts about the scale of public support for a resumed protest, leaders of the People's Fuel Lobby were revising downward the number of lorry-drivers likely to take part in what had originally been billed a "historic" protest.
Against earlier suggestions that as many as 25,000 trucks might participate, a farmer, Mr Andrew Spence, on Wednesday had revised this downward to "around 100", reducing this to an estimated "30 or 40" following Mr Brown's pre-budget report with its promised freeze on fuel duties and a radical reform of vehicle-licensing costs.
The North Yorkshire Deputy Chief Constable, Mr Peter Walker, stressed that the police had not obtained the injunction with the primary intention of keeping the protest away from York. But the floods had left his force "extremely stretched".
Mr David Handley, chairman of the People's Fuel Lobby and Farmers for Action, said he was saddened by the legal move, adding that the process was intended to be law-abiding and the injunction would be observed.
However, Mr John Pratt of Farmers for Action said the injunction "smacked of a police state" and suggested protest leaders would consider contesting it.
Confident that the government has this time correctly assessed the public mood, Mr Brown appealed to protesters to "look at the detail" of his proposals.