Riots in the UK?

[ib.me.ub]

Whats going on over there?

Adrian, did you organise this?

[Tiberius]

Absolutely not. The government issued a report on how to control the increasing number of people going to university (more than the number of places available), as well as save the standards of education from decline. The only option was to raise the amount of money that universities were allowed to charge students (student fees). This solved both problems by giving more money to the universities to spend on teaching, whilst making it less appealing to go to university for students, so they would have to weigh their options more.

Of course, this upset all the students who don't understand how economics works, so they all marched in London and apparently behaved like a bunch of 2 year olds.

Oh, and before someone says it is unfair for the government to raise student fees because poor students won't be able to go, I should point out that each student is entitled to a student loan covering the full amount, and the government is also increasing grants for the poorest students (so they have to pay less).

As you can tell, I'm more than a bit pissed off about what has happened. In my opinion none of those responsible deserve to go to university, and I hope they are caught and prosecuted.

[A Theist]

Of course, this upset all the students who don't understand how economics works, so they all marched in London and apparently behaved like a bunch of 2 year olds... As you can tell, I'm more than a bit pissed off about what has happened. In my opinion none of those responsible deserve to go to university, and I hope they are caught and prosecuted.

I totally agree. We've been watching that mess on the news networks over here. Hardly a nation has been untouched by this recession. Our country, as well as many others will have to look at cutting back spending on government entitlements. Good luck to you guys over there.

[Skipper]

Add to the situation that they would only have to start paying the loan back once they are earning over £21k a year and I find it hard to sympathise to much with them.

[Minimalist]

I'm glad to see that students can actually get riled up about anything anymore. I try to imagine what it would take over here. Maybe if they ran out of beer? Far too many seem to be apathetic, self-absorbed, tweeting, shits.

[Ashendant]

I'm glad to see that students can actually get riled up about anything anymore. I try to imagine what it would take over here. Maybe if they ran out of beer? Far too many seem to be apathetic, self-absorbed, tweeting, shits.

Strange, in europe there is always students making protests somewhere

[Minimalist]

Good.

“Every generation needs a new revolution.”

Thomas Jefferson

[Cerrone]

Good.

“Every generation needs a new revolution.”

Thomas Jefferson

The only thing about that riot that made me angry was this...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2010/n...tests-live

One of the protesters who was outside Millbank today, @mikarv, has sent me the video below which shows activists on the roof of the building which houses the Conservative campaign HQ allegedly throwing a fire extinguisher towards riot police below.

The crowd on the ground respond with by booing, before beginning to chant "Stop throwing shit."

@mikarv said he couldn't see whether it struck an officer or not, "but it fell exactly where a dense crowd of riot police were".

Utterly pathetic that protesting students would turn on the ones who were doing what is only natural in protests. When did student protestors turn into such pussies in the UK? LOL if people think throwing a fire extinguisher at a handful of police is a step beyond civilisation behaviour they should thank their stars they don't live in France where they could enjoy watching a french cop get a fucking car thrown at him on an average student demo.

And note the cowardly tactics police use to warn people away from protests that's been in effect for a long time...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/11...tinguisher
Notice how they now don't make an attempt to arrest protestors in front of other crowds of protestors, they now wait several days and pick them up and charge them with attempted murder.

Not amusing.

[Ashendant]

How smart of both sides

If protests can be this civilized it would a lot more positivism from europe

[Tiberius]

@Cerrone

Have you lost all sense of rationality??? What those students did was inexcusable. Protests are a form of freedom of speech; rioting and destroying other people's property (as well as attacking others) is not. It matters not whether a car or a fire extinguisher was thrown; all that matters is that something was thrown, and it endangered many lives.

Perhaps you didn't do any actual research before writing your post, but had you done so, you may have realised that the police sent to the event were unprepared for the riot, and as such, had to hold off the protestors on their own before riot police could turn up, and even then it wasn't enough. If they had tried to arrest people at the time, they would have (a) lost at least 2 officers who could have helped prevent more students from getting in, and (b) caused a wave of anger through the already angry crowd, possibly putting more lives at risk.

The police made the correct decision given the circumstances; try to prevent further damage now, and arrest later. They weren't being cowardly at all; they were being attacked by a swarm of students that outnumbered their own, and were fighting for their own lives, as well as those of the people who worked in the building.

As for the charge of attempted murder, I think it is fully justified. I hope the person responsible gets jail time, and never gets to set foot on a university campus again; he deserves it.