STUDENT FEE PROTESTS

It's snowing in London on the day of the planned protests against the fee cuts, not only is it snowing, its absolutely freezing. But I still headed out a bit 4 layers of clothing.

When I arrived at Parliament at 2pm there was something strange afoot. Parliament was eerily empty. All I could see every where were police and a few lonely looking students...hmmm strange. Little did I know at that moment students were playing a lovely game of cat and mouse with the police. Splitting into groups, running in different direction, taking side roads then back tracking on them selves...the police really didn't know what to do. Students with the element of surprise ran riot on the streets of London, stopping traffic and telling the whole of central London that they were not accepting these cuts.

Couple of strategic calls later I was heading over to Trafalgar square. With Parliament closed off by the police the students had no choice but to return to Trafalgar sq..so the cat and mouse game continued.
As all well planned missions..the students had their troops on the way but also waiting at Trafalgar square was an army of disenfranchised young people..ready to stand up for their rights.

As soon as I hit the square it was action at the ready as I ran with a group of youths with a massive sound speaker. I have to admit the look on the line of policemen faces as a horde of youths ran towards them was priceless...the fear was emanating from every pore as I watched all their muscles tighten and twitch. But to my great amusement as I turned to face the crowd I saw a sea of protesters dancing in front of the police. Not exactly the waltz but a almost primeval war dance...all I could think of was the Maoris before battle. The sad thing is the police really didn't know what to do..faced with a group of angry dancers they did what they always do best..retaliate with violence. Pushing and shoving at the crowd with their batons out.  Undeterred the horde then ran to the other side of the square where there was another face off. There was no violence just healthy questioning and debate with the police? The only aggression I saw was a few burnt placards..burnt out of frustration from not being allowed to leave the square.
However It never ceased to amaze me once that day the aggression and hostility the police show to what is essentially a group of kids.

However I have to say I was so proud of these young people..with every accidental push or barge that comes in a crowd came a barrage of apologies. As I whizzed round taking pictures..snippets of comments reached my ears "if they take the EMA away how am I gonna study? What have we done wrong? Why are they treating us like this?" amongst the questions there was also a sense of hostility. A very normal looking middle class girl told me that since the last protest she had started to hate the police. Growing up she never had a problem with them however now when ever she saw one all she felt was resentment.
A sentiment echoed by many of the youth there. All the police have managed with their heavy handed tactics is created a generation that will always mistrust the police..these kids will one day be adults, did they ever stop to think about the repercussion's of their action? A whole generation alienated from the police.
What summed it up for me was the young boy who said he always wanted to be a police man but if it meant breaking the law what was the point..you weren't the good guy any more and he wanted to be the good guy.....how profound was that?

These kids today proved that they had the intelligence to outsmart the police and to do it peacefully. The so called 153 arrests are jumped up statistics. All they did was arrest a few stragglers at the end drop them down the road, de-arrest them then send the figures out to make it look like to the public that they did an excellent job in policing hooligans. I can tell you as an adult all I saw were the police treating children and teenagers in an unnecessarily aggressive way. All I saw were a bunch of pro active intelligent young people standing up for what they believe in. Education is not only for the rich and the elite it is not a privilege to be enjoyed by the few, education and knowledge should be for the masses..how can we expect diversity if those that hold all the power come from one single subculture?

So I support the students whole heartily in their struggle to their right of an education and also their right to voice their opinion and protest.
Below I have attached a selection of pictures taken from today's protest