Protesters clashed with police in Westminster
Students stage third fee protest
Students are staging demonstrations and marches across the UK in the third day of protests against increasing tuition fees and university budget cuts.
Students have been moving quickly across Westminster and London’s West End in what appears to be an attempt to avoid police “kettling” tactics.
There are also protests in Leeds, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol.
Business Secretary Vince Cable says he might now abstain in the vote on fees.
National Union of Students leader Aaron Porter attacked the Liberal Democrats for failing to keep their promise to vote against raising fees.
“The anger felt at this betrayal is real, justified, and desperately disappointing to those who placed in you their hope for a different politics,” said Mr Porter, in a letter to Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg.
In Sheffield, students have staged a protest near to Mr Clegg’s constituency office.
In freezing conditions, thousands of protesters gathered in Trafalgar Square – many appearing younger than university students.
Mounted police have been moving through Westminster, the scene of clashes in two previous protests.
Demonstrators appear to be trying to avoid being caught in police lines, after thousands were held in a “kettle” last week.
Heather Sharp, education reporter, central London
Surreal scenes on Oxford Street where students are marching along, shouting slogans while Christmas shoppers look on with an air of slight bemusement.
There appears to be a game of cat and mouse going on with students trying to avoid getting caught in a police kettle.
I saw a man from the No Cuts campaign in a luminous vest guiding students to go in the opposite direction once he had seen that police had blocked off one exit.
Somebody cranked up a portable soundsystem, and there were cries of delight as protesters ran across the grass to another location.
Few seem to be older than 18, and several I have spoken to were under 16, having sneaked away from lessons without the knowledge of their schools.
A 19-year-old student told the BBC their strategy was to avoid being contained by police: “Whenever the police block us off, we turn round and go the other way.
“We also do not want to be panicked into violence. Smashing up windows was necessary in the beginning to get the demonstrations on the front pages, but now any violence would be counter-productive.”
Unlike last week’s demonstration in which students were held on Whitehall as a single group, this protest has been broken up into groups moving quickly around London’s West End.
Although traffic has been stopped at various points, there appears to be no sign of violence.
The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts has accused the police of having “pre-emptively blocked” the protest route.
MPs are expected to vote on the fees package before Christmas.
It remains uncertain whether Liberal Democrat ministers will abstain or support the proposals to raise tuition fees to £9,000 per year.
At the general election, Liberal Democrat candidates gave personal pledges to students that they would vote against any increase in fees.
Vince Cable, the secretary of state responsible for universities, has indicated that he might not vote in favour of the fee rise, but might abstain.
Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary, John Denham, says it would be “extraordinary and appalling” if the secretary of state did not vote for his own proposals.
Protests have also been taking place around the country.
More than a thousand students protested in the centre of Manchester.
In Nottingham, about 150 protesters are reported to have staged an occupation at the university.
Occupations are continuing in a number of other universities, including University College London, Cambridge and Newcastle.
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