Please share/blog/tweet the facebook call out for the protest.
Shortly after this Government weren’t elected the student inspired storming of the Tory Party HQ at Millbank launched a fierce, if short-lived, campaign against the huge hike in tuition fees. A series of well-supported and spiky central London protests brought chaos to the capital whilst universities were occupied across the UK.
Recently the student movement burst back into life with occupations in universities across the UK including Edinburgh, Birmingham, Liverpool, Exeter, Brighton and Sheffield. Many of these occupations have been linked to strikes or struggles by both education staff and low paid, often casualised workers. The response from university bosses has been injunctions, threats and spurious suspensions. Last week Senate House, the main building of the University of London, was occupied by students in solidarity with outsourced workers fighting for sick pay and other workplace rights. Students are also furious about plans to close down the the university’s student union, ULU.
On Wednesday night students occupying the building were subject to an appallingly violent response with hundreds of police storming the campus leading to protesters being “thrown to the ground, kicked and punched, and dragged to the ground by their hair.” A film has appeared online showing the extent of the attack. 36 people were arrested.
This has only increased the determination of students who have called a day of national and local actions this Wednesday December 11th to show that they will not be in intimidated by violent attacks carried out by the police. As well as fighting for low paid staff at universities, many students have supported protests against workfare and other cuts to social security. Claimants coming out on the streets for students could help kick-start a new fightback against the constant and devastating attacks on the young, the old, the poor and public sector workers everywhere.
So called political leaders of all parties believe the only answer to the crisis created by the rich is for the rest of us to work harder, for longer, for less pay. Join the students this week and help start a new wave of resistance to every attack and let’s start to build a world worth growing up in.
