British students, schoolchildren in third day of national protest against gov't education policies
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Damage was caused and arrests were made.
Police were determined not to be taken by surprise a second time, and when the students again protested on November 24, with 10,000 students marching in central London alone, they trapped protesters in a small area only about 100 meters from the Downing Street home of the prime minister David Cameron.
In cold temperatures, thousands of protesters were held for up to 10 hours as night fell, prompting organizers to criticize police for heavy-handedness. Police pointed to the vandalism of a police van and street furniture and said they were trying to avoid further criminal damage. A small number of arrests were made.
Tuesday's demonstration in London was smaller, perhaps because of bad weather, and more chaotic but largely peaceful. Police reported five arrests by late afternoon, but protesters said they had been wary of being caught in a small space by the police once again.
On Monday evening police reported a crowd of 100 demonstrators, 200 to 300 according to an eyewitness, outside a municipal government budget meeting in the southern London district of Lewisham, protesting against local government budget cuts as well as university tuition fees. Police said protesters tried to get into the meeting, and reported 16 officers hurt with minor injuries, the most serious being a broken finger, as they kept them out. Three arrests were made.
The coalition government has been much criticized by protesting students, and a vote on raising university tuition fees from their present level of 3,290 pounds (about 5,123 U.S. dollars) to up to 9,000 pounds will take place in December, when protest groups have promised a large rally in London.
The government says the increase in fees is necessary because billions of pounds in funding for teaching is being withdrawn, as part of cuts to tackle the public spending deficit, which is expected to be 149 billion pounds for 2010-11. The government has announced cuts in spending of 81 billion pounds over the next four years.
Tuition fee increases could begin from 2012-13, but students would not have to begin to pay back their tuition fees loan until they had graduated and had started a moderately well-paid job.
Government budget cuts also mean that an allowance of up to 30 pounds per week for school students aged 16-19 would be axed for new claimants from 2011 onwards.
The devolved regional government for Wales, the Welsh Assembly, has announced its own fee plans, which will see Welsh students at university in Wales and England paying no more than the current 3, 290 pounds per year. A government spokesman said that universities could increase their charges, but any student from Wales would have their tuition fees subsidized to cover the increase.
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