Chaos prevailed in much of central London on Tuesday as thousands of students, braving freezing temperatures and snow, took to the streets in protest against the government’s plans to raise university tuition fee and cut higher education funding.
Sporadic clashes were reported as students played a cat-and-mouse game with the police who chased them through congested lanes and shopping centres bringing traffic to a halt at many places.
Campuses and city centres across Britain witnessed angry scenes in the third wave of protests in as many weeks with student groups threatening to intensify their campaign in the run-up to a parliamentary vote on the issue before Christmas.
Cambridge, Bristol and Edinburgh were among a host of major university towns where students held marches and “occupied” buildings.
In London’s Trafalgar Square, there was a tense stand-off after students, waving banners and shouting slogans, climbed on to the main column as the police struggled to restore order. Parliament Square was cordoned off and students trying to reach there were involved in angry exchanges with the police.
The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts accused the police of using “aggressive” tactics and “pre-emptively” blocking the protest route. Police, keen to avoid a repetition of last week’s events when they were criticised for their “heavy-handed” approach, insisted that they had “no intention” to prevent legitimate protest.
Tuesday’s march came hours after violence erupted in south-east London when students broke into the local town hall where a meeting was taking place. Several people, including policemen, were injured.
The National Union of Students leader Aaron Porter accused the Liberal Democrats, partners in the Tory-led ruling coalition, of “betrayal” saying that they had gone back on their election promise to oppose any increase in tuition fee.
“The anger felt at this betrayal is real, justified, and desperately disappointing to those who placed in you their hope for a different politics,” he said in a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
In the Commons, Mr. Clegg came under attack from Labour for his “u-turn” on the issue.
