Three Police Injured In Student Clashes

[Christmas Tree 4459]

Three police officers have been seriously hurt as violence breaks out among protesters marching on Westminster over plans to treble university fees.

 

One police officer is in hospital with neck injuries, and a mounted officer suffered leg injuries after being thrown from his horse as the clashes in central London escalated.

 

Flares, paint bombs, snooker balls and other missiles were seen being thrown at police.

 

A handful of protesters climbed onto a statue of Winston Churchill and daubed it with graffiti and dozens have surrounded a large bonfire.

 

Some have been breaking down metal barriers around Parliament.

 

Sky's Tom Parmenter, at the scene, said: "We've got scenes of serious disorder, a real dangerous volatile situation.

 

"All around me there is very widespread disorder, a lot of paint missiles being chucked from the crowds.

 

"There's an awful lot of tension, a lot of anger in the air

 

"Police are certainly battling to keep a lid on all this, but it is very difficult for them."

 

So far, seven people have been arrested and medics are treating 19 for injuries, six of whom have been taken to hospital.

 

Officers said earlier they would begin containing protesters inside Parliament Square.

 

But Sky's Mark White, at the scene, said officers there had been surrounded by a "massive influx" of demonstrators from Whitehall at about 5pm.

 

He said: "This is clearly a volatile and potentially dangerous situation unless they can get more officers down here to reinforce their numbers."

 

 

There are fears of a "real security breach", he said, "with students running wild inside the Houses of Parliament".

 

Superintendent Julia Pendry criticised protesters who were "intent on causing violent disorder" and said police had responded "proportionately" to the violence.

 

"The Metropolitan Police Service is extremely disappointed with the behaviour of protesters today," she said.

 

"It is absolutely obvious that people have come to London today intent on causing violent disorder - not coming to peacefully protest - and that can be proven by the number of people who have deviated from the agreed route."

 

She said protesters in the containment area would be allowed to leave along Whitehall if they agreed to go peacefully.

 

But some students said they were still being prevented from going.

 

"We have been to every exit and all the police are telling us we cannot leave," said one.

 

"There are gangs of youths randomly attacking people with sticks but the police are doing nothing about it."

 

Demonstrators are angry at coalition proposals - being debated now in Parliament - that could see students being forced to pay up to £9,000 per year.

 

The word "No" has been daubed in large letters with red paint on the grass in Parliament Square.

 

Today's march in the capital began at University London Union, in Malet Street, at 12pm.

 

Just before 2pm, a smoke bomb or flare was thrown over the lines of police vans and filled the air with red smoke near the Carriage Gates entrance to Parliament.

 

The violence began to escalate at around 3pm.

 

Officials, activists and members of some of the country's biggest trade unions were expected to join the march.

 

Trade union banners are evident among the crowd including Unison, the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and the Public and Commercial Services union.

 

Fucking Scum.

 

Cant see why they dont use water canons on them.

[Monkeys Fist 41361]

Did you see any of it?

I watched it live.

Painted a different picture

[Christmas Tree 4459]

Did you see any of it?

I watched it live.

Painted a different picture

 

 

I watched about an hour of it live. You dont go to a peaceful demonstration armed with snooker balls to throw. The stuff being thrown was unreal. Credit to the cops, I would do that job trying to hold a line like that while some spotty kid is trying to cave your skull in with steel bars.

 

Also saw the charge with the horses which is why I mentioned the water canon. Thought it would do a better job of moving them back without risking injury to student, police and horses.

 

Dont if they're just not pc anymore or were banned.

[StevenL 0]

Can't really decide who I hate more.

[Gejon 2]

Easy choice for me, hope the students get battered.

[Guest]

Good.

[wykikitoon 19357]

Fucking student cunts. A picture on twitter somewhere shows one of the gypsy fucking cunts swinning of the cenotaph in London.

 

Why do they think they have the god damn given right to free University education? FUCK OFF. None of you cunts use your degree's its a fucking excuse to fuck about for a little longer, earn your fucking degree if you want one.

 

Fucking unwashed CUNTS

[ewerk 29545]

I'd be interested to know if anyone on here would have decided not to go to uni if they were faced with the new fees.

[tooner 243]

how much were tuition fees prior to the measures they are proposing?

[toon_don 0]

how much were tuition fees prior to the measures they are proposing?

 

£3,290 a year I think

Edited December 9, 2010 by toon_don

[toon_don 0]

Fucking student cunts. A picture on twitter somewhere shows one of the gypsy fucking cunts swinning of the cenotaph in London.

 

Why do they think they have the god damn given right to free University education? FUCK OFF. None of you cunts use your degree's its a fucking excuse to fuck about for a little longer, earn your fucking degree if you want one.

 

Fucking unwashed CUNTS

 

A balanced viewpoint if ever there was one

[tooner 243]

how much were tuition fees prior to the measures they are proposing?

 

Around £3,750 a year I think

 

 

holy crap!!! i thought my fees were high when i was in school.

 

what sort of student assistance is there? can you get student loans? and if so what sort of interest does the government give?

[toon_don 0]

how much were tuition fees prior to the measures they are proposing?

 

Around £3,750 a year I think

 

 

holy crap!!! i thought my fees were high when i was in school.

 

what sort of student assistance is there? can you get student loans? and if so what sort of interest does the government give?

 

Sorry, I edited it after you quoted it, it's actually £3,290 a year.

 

Unless you're really wealthy, you get a tuition fee loan which goes straight from the government from the university. You also have maintenance loans which go up to ~£4900 per year, and means tested grants to help you with day to day living costs. The interest on these is the rate of inflation, so you pay back what you borrowed effectively.

 

The changes would not only put the top figure up to £9,000 a year, but you would have to pay a real rate of interest on top of RPI on these loans. You'd also pay a penalty if you were in a position to pay the debt off early in a lump sum.

[Howay 12496]

Easy choice for me, hope the students get battered.

Agreed, hope the cunt that dropped that fire extinguisher the other week gets done for attempted murder. Fucking covering the Churchill monument in graffiti fucking disgrace.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

Water cannons, tazers, plastic bullets, tear gas, soap all fine by me.

 

If they're there for peaceful protest why are they covering their faces?

 

I have no doubt that they were mostly students but there is a professional trouble making element of hoolies mixed in there as well.

[Guest]

Chances are the coppers will have been giving it the iron fist bullshit and fully deserved it. Everyone knows exactly what half of the cunts are like.

[TicTacWoe 0]

I lived in Finland for a while not long ago, all education is completely free to anyone from the eu for all levels, primary, secondary, third and masters etc there. I can understand the protests in the UK, obviously violence only does their own cause harm but still, the anti-student sentiment is a bit much, I think the UK has the highest fees in the eu currently, I might be wrong there though.

Edited December 10, 2010 by TicTacWoe

[toon_don 0]

I lived in Finland for a while not long ago, all education is completely free to anyone from the eu for all levels, primary, secondary, third and masters etc. I can understand their protests, obviously violence only does their own cause harm but still, the anti-student sentiment is a bit much, I think the UK has the highest fees in the eu currently, I might be wrong there.

 

The changes will give us the highest fees for public universities in the industrialised world

[Kid Dynamite 6847]

how much were tuition fees prior to the measures they are proposing?

 

£3,290 a year I think

 

Up from around 1200 a year in 2004. 800% increase in 6years, I'm glad people are kicking off. Things will never change if we just sit at home muttering about it to ourselves. I can't put into words how much I detest our current government.

 

Tuition fees, world cup corruption, giving pardoo a 5year contract, the whole fucking world is corrupt. Lynch the cunts I say

[Kid Dynamite 6847]

Chances are the coppers will have been giving it the iron fist bullshit and fully deserved it. Everyone knows exactly what half of the cunts are like.

 

You're not wrong, that coppers show on channel 4 showed them at a protest. One officer is screaming into someone's face over and over 'get back or ill break your fucking nose!!!'

 

Interviewed him after and he was a right bully boy prat, claiming as long as he can justify it he can kick fuck out of who he wants as hes a copper

 

Not saying they are all like that but there are a disproportionate amount who crave respect and get into tit for tat rows with the scummers they are supposed to be better than

[adios 717]

always nice to see a few pigs getting fucked up, but you students thinking you have some divine right to 3rd level education need to get a clue, way too many thick fuckers with pointless degrees at this point

 

those of us lucky enough to get in on the cheap, should have been forced to pay more, and think harder about going

[The Fish 10457]

can barely be arsed to repeat it, but the peaceful student protests are so easily waylaid by anarchist activists. it takes one activist to launch something, the police over-react, the students over react etc. etc.

 

Also, I'd love to see how many of these "students" are actually studying and aren't just local London scrotes out looking for a bit of "bovver"

 

But again, this won't be reported, it's too easy to either report on students who don't understand the real world, or police who're heavy handed thugs.

 

[Meenzer 15154]

I'd be interested to know if anyone on here would have decided not to go to uni if they were faced with the new fees.

It's a fair question. I reckon I still would have gone, but I don't really know if the cost/benefit factor would be sufficient compared with what I'd have got from simply moving to Germany after high school and picking up the nuances of the language that way, even if that involved pulling pints for four years rather than studying the language in-depth. Probably all depends on my first employer really - they took me on without any translation experience because I had a strong modern languages degree, but would they have been willing to expand that to "speaks the language very well but has no post-high school qualifications in it"? I suspect not, but you never know.

[tooner 243]

I lived in Finland for a while not long ago, all education is completely free to anyone from the eu for all levels, primary, secondary, third and masters etc. I can understand their protests, obviously violence only does their own cause harm but still, the anti-student sentiment is a bit much, I think the UK has the highest fees in the eu currently, I might be wrong there.

 

The changes will give us the highest fees for public universities in the industrialised world

 

 

it costs $25000/year in the states to go to a reputable institution.

[Rob W 0]

Chances are the coppers will have been giving it the iron fist bullshit and fully deserved it. Everyone knows exactly what half of the cunts are like.

 

 

I'm afraid I agree