London swarming with protesting students

I am sure there is another thread dealing with this..but not seeing it..

Flip on CNN (9:43am EST Dec 11 2010)

Thousands of demonstrators are surrounding the Houses of Parliament as MPs debate plans to raise tuition fees in England to £9,000 a year.

Protesters forced their way into Parliament Square and are pressing against lines of riot police.

Police are behind barriers surrounding the Houses of Parliament.

Inside the House of Commons, Business Secretary Vince Cable told MPs the fee plans were fair and would maintain the quality of universities.

Demonstrators have pushed security barriers and thrown missiles at police lines in front of the Houses of Parliament.

Parliment is voting to jack up student tuition by a significant amount. The students..not very happy about this.

England pays for the students to goto school for pretty much free. within the last 10 years, they initiated some tuitions..now if this vote goes through, it will cost them about 15k (about 22-23k USD) to goto university that they pay back later.

This is a cultural difference (and frankly, one where I think England gets right) that they believe university education is a right. The state paying for your higher education has been going on for generations now...so, this is very against the norm (For Americans...imagine if suddenly the government initiated a tuition of 30k for your kids to goto primary school.)

Originally posted by pazcat
Also live updates.

edit on 9-12-2010 by pazcat because: (no reason given)

Thanks pazcat

Wow, I read that thread title as something completely different at first.

But yeah, on watching the news it is a massive turnout. I would expect quite a mess by the end of the day.
BBC link with video.

Also live updates.

Originally posted by pazcat
Wow, I read that thread title as something completely different at first.

But yeah, on watching the news it is a massive turnout. I would expect quite a mess by the end of the day.
BBC link with video.

edit on 9-12-2010 by pazcat because: (no reason given)

Ya, trying to wake up here myself and with coffee...I would say if the title you misread was the truth...London suddenly became seriously interesting
-gets plane ticket-

reply to post by SaturnFX


OH NO! The students might actually have to get jobs rather than borrow off the goverment! I think this is ridiculas, I struggled through uni with a full time job just so i didnt have to loan money, i paid uni fees off in installments and all was good.
Its good i say, let them put up the prices, limit UNI to those who can be botherd to put in the effort

Any brits on? Whats your take on it?

2nd

watching it live now.

seems there is already violence and trouble.

missiles and glass bottles thrown at police ..and now they are taking down the barriers and throwing them.
think it may get quite ugly ....and doesnt do the cause anygood...
too many troublemakers taking advantage of the situ.


snoopyuk

You can watch the live stream here...
interactive.foxnews.com...

Figured I would chime in before someone gets the wrong idea:

Missile being used is not the RPG type...more like a rock, or beer can..etc...projectile.

However, if the students were launching actual missiles...I bet they would certainly get more attention.

I'm working in central London right now and its all pretty intense.

also just out of the education system id like to tell everyone how much (in £GPB) University will cost a student if this bill goes threw:

7.5 k x 3 (three years of tuition)
4 k x 3 (three years housing, almost all students need to move to get to university)
2 k x 3 (loan for food, air, all that junk necessary to survive)

Students in the UK are advised NOT to work for the duration of the course, although in the face of the current fee system thousands do already.

40k (+/- a few) debt after three years, that's over double what i make a year working in central London.

reply to post by SaturnFX


thanks for claifying that
saturnfx

Wow. This is really news to me. I had no idea that the U.K still had free university education.
I wish them well. No one should have to pay for a university education, if as governments keep telling us, a degree is needed to survive in our service and technology based economies.
.

Originally posted by SaturnFX
Any brits on? Whats your take on it?

2nd

What it boils down to is that the Lib Dems whole election campaign was based on the opposite of what they are now doing, like any other political party they got a wiff of power in this coalition government and now they've gone back on all their pre-election promises and Nick Clegg is now even calling students "dreamers" for wanting what they were promised and had voted the Lib Dems for.

Most of these students will be feeling betrayed by our so called "democracy" where parties promise one thing only to become dictators doing things against the wishes of their voters once in power, Labour did it in the previous elections where they promised everybody a vote on the Lisbon treaty only to force it through without a vote once they were elected.

How has this thread not gotten more flags?!?
I honestly didn't know they had free education ever!
Im so psyched! Go Brits!
It looks intense but not an armed and chaotic demonstration of protest which can illicit negatives upon the students/protesters. I love how passionate this is- wish I saw it around me here is US a little more.

well i said it was gonna get ugly....

wait til the dark , and the anarchists arrive....i would hate to be working in Central London.


snoopyuk

ps. why dont we use water cannons anymore ???...anyone know ???

Lets hope that this is the start of something much, much bigger that results in the complete overthrow of the vile, corrupt politicians running this country into the ground and stealing from everyones futures, for their own personal gain.

reply to post by snoopyuk


They replaced them with the ever popular tazers and riot control bean bag guns, apparently water cannons can drown poeple........

Originally posted by nowayreally
How has this thread not gotten more flags?!?
I honestly didn't know they had free education ever!
Im so psyched! Go Brits!
It looks intense but not an armed and chaotic demonstration of protest which can illicit negatives upon the students/protesters. I love how passionate this is- wish I saw it around me here is US a little more.

The thing is though, that the students have not been hit as hard as some groups have. The sick and disabled are in a much worse position, and in a position where they are not as able to go out and protest like the students, with health and youth on their side. The students only started protesting when they were targetted, they didnt care before hand.

Being in london, you peopel know my story of 6th form in 1992, where i found out they where using technologies on kids at school.

So who is to say this is any different?

So where is the headline "The Students Are Revolting"?

I love the comments already seen in this thread "no one should have to pay for an education"...but in fact someone always does pay for it...we don't just sit out in the sunlight and photosynthesize doctorates...not on this planet...not yet anyways...

Socialist and Anarchist students causing violence as per usual.
Dirty scum, if it was up to me i would fire tear gas and rubber bullets and batter the ethnic agitators into submission then pour salt into the wounds by banning them from university for life.

I managed to ring my police officer friend after the first major charge which broke a line and he said his mate had his neck broken, the police are furious and fed up with the abuse from these "unwashed hippies" in his words. He was deeply angered by not only his friends injuries but the fact protestors climbed up Winton Churchills statue and vandalised it via grafitti and urine meanwhile others were burning memorial plaques and benches.

Peaceful my arse there are "students" there with hammers,scissors,knives,iron bars,fireworks,smoke bombs, paint bombs and flashbangs

No sympathy for these lot of uaf,socialist and anarchist students at all.
Good work Metropolitan police