Page last updated at: Thu, 25 November 2010 15:20 PM GMT Printable version

Second protest in response to fees

by Christopher Hamer and Joachim Treasurer

The student protest on November 24, 2010 at Trafalgar Square. Photo by Magnus Sagerup.UAL students were among 5000 who took part in a protest against rises in tuition fees in Central London on Wednesday, which became heated by mid afternoon.

Other protests and walkouts by students took place across the country in response to the government’s plans for cuts in education and a tripling of tuition fees.

The march in central London started largely peacefully yet some violence flared by late lunchtime.

Some protestors smashed windows on a police van parked near the demonstration. Others smashed bus stops and pulled down railings along the route.

Scuffles also took place after police blocked off Parliament Square, which ended in at least one arrest.

This all happened despite far smaller numbers of students taking part than in the previous march two weeks ago, with roughly 5,000 protesters estimated to have been there in comparison to 50,000 before.

Police presence

The November 10 protest ended in violence as some angry students took matters into their own hands and confronted police.

The police presence at this week’s march was also far higher than at the Demo-lition protest, when the Metropolitan Police were criticised for their initial small numbers.

Speaking to Arts London News before the march Louis Hartnoll, UAL Student Union President commented: “The idea is to put pressure on the Lib Dem guys who stated that cuts would not be made to education.

“We hope as many schools and colleges as possible will participate and we’d like to see any of those in London down at the march today.”

Hartnoll added that this march was on “a lot smaller scale than the last one” and “the aim is to show the Lib Dems that we are unhappy”.

Deborah Olakigee, an Art and Design Foundation student at Camberwell, commented: "It's really good to see there are so many further education students because it is obviously going to have a big impact on them."

Additional Reporting, Lucy Garner.


Comments:

  1. Christopher Hamer
    2011-02-24 00:35:51
    Sorry I had to do that in many messages, 255 character limit.

  2. Christopher Hamer
    2011-02-24 00:35:30
    If you think it was such a disgrace might I suggest you go out and report the next student protest and make sure the story is up before 4 pm and get all the details right. yourself.

  3. Christopher Hamer
    2011-02-24 00:35:21
    The kettling I totally disagree with and altho the van was suspiciously placed as you put it, it is hard to know whether or not it was deliberate and there is/was no way to confirm this.

  4. Christopher Hamer
    2011-02-24 00:35:07
    I do indeed know about the fact protestors were kettles and the police van but as a journalist I refuse to take part in the guessing game of why the van was there.

  5. Christopher Hamer
    2011-02-24 00:34:22
    Hi Solomon, The article was finished on wednesday afternoon. I am sure you will understand that as a student paper we cannot work as 24 news services do in that we do go home at the end of the day.

  6. Solomon Cardy
    2010-11-26 02:00:40
    Sorry, but this article is an utter disgrace. It's nothing but churnalism from mainstream media. No mention of protesters being kettled in for 8-9 hours or the police suspiciously placing the riot van right in the middle of the kettled in protest.

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