Student fees rally turns to violence (From The Northern Echo)

Student fees rally turns to violence

10:20am Thursday 11th November 2010 in News

FEES PROTEST: Police and demonstrators outside Conservative Party headquarters at Millbank Tower, in London, yesterday

BRITAIN’S most senior police officer last night called for an investigation into why a demonstration against higher tuition fees by tens of thousands of students and lecturers descended into violence.

At least ten people needed hospital treatment as police and students were injured after ugly clashes during the march in central London, which was attended by hundreds of North-East protestors.

Union leaders, who organised yesterday’s march, condemned the violence, which they blamed on a minority of protestors.

A volatile crowd lay siege to Millbank Tower, the Conservative Party’s headquarters, and the MI5 building, Thames House.

At one point, protestors took to the roof and began pelting riot police below with missiles, including a fire extinguisher.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said the trouble was totally unacceptable and the scenes were “an embarrassment for London and for us”.

“I think the scenes that we have seen today both inside and outside Millbank are wholly unacceptable, disgraceful behaviour,” he said.

“It’s just thuggish, loutish behaviour by criminals and we need to ensure that we have a thorough investigation to bring these criminals to account.”

Aaron Porter, the president of the National Union of Students, said a small minority of protestors had “hijacked” the march against Government plans to charge students up to £9,000 per year from 2012 – triple the present £3,290 fee.

Describing the scenes as “despicable”, he added: “We talked about the need to prevent anything like this and how important it was to act in a responsible way. Unfortunately, a minority have undermined us.”

A number of arrests were made as police clashed with a group close to the Thames, some wearing scarves on their faces to hide their identity.

One man was seen smashing a window with a sledgehammer while another brandished a piece of metal as he tried to break into the building.

Ten people were taken to hospital, including three police officers, all thought to be suffering minor injuries.

Another person was treated at the scene.

Lori Wheatman, president of Teesside University’s students union, said the march’s carnival atmosphere had been “ruined by a small number of idiots”.

More than 150 students had travelled to the capital from the university.

“We had a really good day, we all marched together with drums banging and singing – it was a real carnival atmosphere,” she said.

“We marched past Parliament and along past Millbank Tower, but we saw no trouble and none of our students were involved in the trouble.

“I’m really disappointed that some idiots ruined all of our hard work.

“A lot of students unions have worked hard to organise this protest and it has been spoilt by these idiots.”

Protestors stormed the building an hour after the start of the rally – which was attended by more than 50,000 students, lecturers and other supporters.

About 50 people got onto a roof, dropping a large metal fire extinguisher onto riot police.

Fire extinguishers were also let off from the roof and eggs were thrown.

On the ground, sticks and other missiles were thrown at police from a crowd of at least 1,000 spilling out onto the normally busy road alongside the building.

There were scuffles at the front of the crowd, with protestors throwing missiles and hitting officers with sticks.

Placards and banners were burnt, to cheers from the crowd, while protestors inside the building used chairs as they smashed and kicked their way through more of the glass frontage, effectively opening up the atrium to the crowd.

One police officer with a bloody wound to her head was led away from the side of the building by two colleagues.

A stick was thrown at her as she went.

Demonstrators who had got inside the building’s atrium tried to pull down the few remaining huge sheets of glass, while others hurled pillows to chants of “Tory scum”.

The demonstration, one of the biggest seen on London’s streets for many years, and the largest student protest since 1997, had started peacefully, with a march from Whitehall past Downing Street and Parliament.

But about an hour later, violence flared at Millbank Tower, close to the Tate Britain art gallery where the march had been due to end with a rally.

Hundreds of workers were evacuated from the building, which also houses other organisations, including Government agencies, as protestors began smashing windows and fires were lit.

A Tory party spokesman said: “We condemn the use of violence.”

The protestors released a statement which said: “We call for direct action to oppose these cuts. This is only the beginning of the resistance to the destruction of our education system and public services.”