Students continue campus sit-ins

The Bodleian Library protesters want Oxford University to pledge not to raise fees

Students are still occupying buildings, including Oxford’s Bodleian library, at eight universities after a UK-wide day of protests against tuition fee rises.

On Thursday morning, students remained in lecture theatres and other sites where they had spent the night at universities including Edinburgh, UCL, Cardiff, Newcastle, Plymouth and Leeds.

Protest leaders have announced a further day of action on 30 November.

Seventeen people were hurt in clashes at Wednesday’s march in London.

Thirty-two arrests were made after a police van was attacked and barricades thrown as protesters tried to break through police lines as thousands of people demonstrated at Whitehall.

School pupils walked out of lessons to join university and college students on local protest marches across the UK.

Protesters are angered by the government’s plans to allow universities in England to charge tuition fees of up to £9,000 a year and to make cuts of up to 80% to university teaching budgets.

Protesters complained about being held for hours on Wednesday evening

Further education and sixth form students are also enraged by the scrapping of the educational maintenance allowance, which gives low-income 16-19 year olds up to £30 a week to help them continue in full time education.

On Thursday, Oxford University said “tens” of people, some of whom it believed were not students, were occupying the Radcliffe Camera, part of the Bodleian Library.

The students are calling on Oxford University to commit to not increasing fees for any courses, and pledge never to privatise.

Oxford University said it had asked the students to leave.

“The University of Oxford supports freedom of expression and the right to peaceful protest,” it said in a statement.

“However, this is an unlawful occupation and one that has caused considerable inconvenience and disruption,” it said.

At Edinburgh University, dozens of students stayed overnight in the Appleton Tower lecture building, while about 30 students have taken over a lecture theatre in Cardiff and 30 to 40 stayed put in Newcastle University’s Fine Arts building.

Occupations also continued at University College London, the School of Oriental and African Studies, Manchester, Plymouth, Leeds and Essex.

The sit-ins follow a day of protests around the UK on Wednesday.

The Education Activist Network said it showed the “mass, deep-seated and furious opposition to the government’s education cuts” and hailed walkouts, protests and marches yesterday “too numerous for the media to count”.

The group accused the police of “heavy-handed brutality” in its handling of Wednesday’s protest in London, criticising the police for “kettling” students as young as 14 for hours behind police lines in cold conditions.

But Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson defended the move and said forcibly holding protesters in one place was a “valued tactic to be used wisely and on the best information and carefully”.

Two of those injured were police officers.

The EAN said a further day of action, billed as a “national student strike” was being planned for Tuesday 30 November.

On Wednesday, Universities Minister David Willetts said students had not seemed to have understood the proposals on fees – and that they would not have to pay the higher fees up-front.

“Young people will be provided with the funds they need to meet whatever charges universities levy,” said Mr Willetts.

Under the government’s plans, graduates will start to pay their fees back once their incomes reach £21,000.

Debts not paid off after 30 years will be wiped out.

The proposals apply to England, but are likely to have knock-on effects in Wales and Northern Ireland, where students currently pay similar tuition fees to those in England.

Scottish students studying at Scottish universities do not have to pay fees, but there is increasing pressure for some form of graduate contribution to help fund the sector.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.