Students in day of fees protests

Fees protestProtesters are staging a fees demonstration in London

Lines of police are holding back thousands of student protesters in central London, in a wave of protests against higher tuition fees and university budget cuts.

A police van, marooned in the protest on Whitehall, has been vandalised.

Students are staging occupations at universities including Royal Holloway, Plymouth, Birmingham, London South Bank, UCL and UWE Bristol.

Police have warned they will make arrests if protests become violent.

Marches, walkouts and protest events are also taking place at universities and colleges in Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Bristol, Southampton, Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds, Newcastle, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

School pupils have walked out of lessons in Winchester, Cambridge, Leeds and London.

Speaking ahead of the protests, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg called on students to reconsider the coalition’s tuition fees plans before they take part in a day of protests.

“Examine our proposals before taking to the streets. Listen and look before you march and shout,” said Mr Clegg.

Students are protesting against plans to increase tuition fees in England to £9,000 per year and to withdraw public funding for university teaching budgets for many subjects.

Student protestStudents in London have been walking out to join a demonstration

A student march two weeks ago ended in an attack on the Conservatives’ headquarters building – which has since been followed by 65 arrests.

The Metropolitan Police have warned they will not tolerate criminal activity, violence or disorder.

Protesters in London are planning to demonstrate outside the headquarters of the Liberal Democrat party, whose leaders have become a particular target for student protests.

Students have accused Liberal Democrat MPs of planning to break their pledge to vote against raising fees.

The demonstrations are not being organised by the National Union of Students – and there are uncertainties about the pattern of protests.

A “carnival of resistance” has been promised, with music and speeches.

Students protesting on the balcony of a university building with banners

Students at the University of Birmingham are staging a protest over tuition fees and budget cuts.

Mark Bergfeld, spokesman for the Education Activist Network, one of the groups organising the protests, said: “We have the right to protest, we have the right to civil disobedience, we have the right to occupy our lecture halls.”

And an anarchist group has also called for “roaming marches” to “disrupt business” across central London, rather than a static stand-off with police.

Protest leaders have claimed that an “unprecedented wave of student revolt is unfolding” – and they say they are following in the spirit of student protests of 1968.

Dominic Casciani, BBC News, central London

As some of the protesters began gathering outside the University of London Union, the atmosphere was fairly lively, with the students banging pots and drums and cowbells. One of the chants against Nick Clegg went “shame on you for turning blue” – and there are others that are unrepeatable, but the mood was jovial.

Some students are protesting against the removal of the education maintenance allowance for further education students and sixth formers on low incomes. Others are holding placards campaigning more generally about the rise in tuition fees – some from the Socialist Worker student society, some from the Education Activists Network.

One woman is holding a home-made placard calling for “rich parents for all”. There are significant numbers of police but they are standing well back and appear relaxed.

As well as the planned rise in tuition fees, students are also campaigning about wider budget cuts for higher education.

Further education students and sixth-formers are also protesting at plans to remove the education maintenance allowance, which gives low-income students up to £30 a week to help with the costs of staying in full-time education.

The fees protest held two weeks ago in Westminster was attended by an estimated 50,000 students – and ended with a breakaway group forcing their way into the Millbank office complex.

There had only been a thin line of police guarding the Millbank building – but the police have made clear that they will be better prepared for Wednesday’s protests.

“The Met has long respected and protected the right to protest and we will continue to do so, but anyone who plans to take to the streets of London intent on disorder, violence and crime should understand that it won’t be tolerated and they will be arrested,” said Commander Bob Broadhurst.

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