Student Mob Marches Over Cuts And Fees

Hundreds of Cambridge students took to the streets yesterday to protest against government cuts and plans to raise tuition fees to £9k.

The CUSU-led mob met on Queens’ Green before marching through town towards St Mary’s Church chanting “No ifs, no buts, no education cuts” and calling for the end of top up fees.

CUSU claims around 400 students turned out for the rally, which President Rahul Mansigani described as a “record turnout”.

The mob is led forward by CUSU President Rahul Mansigani.

One speaker at Queens’ Green told the crowd “F**k you [the government], you’re all a bunch of corporate whores”.

As the rabble reached King’s Parade, one student – Charlie Veitch – attempted to storm King’s College but was stopped by the porters as they bolted the doors shut.

Veitch told The Tab he “wanted a riot” and thought the protest was “too polite and too tame – students are too apathetic these days”.

‘Revolution’

The group also blocked a bus from passing on King’s Parade.

One comrade shouted “This is the revolution man, you’re going to have to do a U-turn”.

The boys in blue had to intervene to break up the crowd and the bus was eventually allowed to pass.

Despite CUSU’s claims, many were disappointed by the rally’s turnout. Ian Blackwell of Sidney told The Tab “the protest was well organised but there are fewer people here than I expected”.

Sorocha, a King’s undergrad said she thought the cuts were “a disgrace” and that “the government needs to invest more in the future generation.”

The march enters Market Square.

Chris Fountain from King’s added that he thought “the government are shit”.

Chants included “make the greedy bankers pay”. Adam Booth, a Robinson postgrad said he wanted “those who caused the financial crisis to pay for it.”

The Militant Student was on sale, which claims the protest “must link up with the wider labour movement to overthrow the ConDem government, and ultimately to overthrow capitalism.”

The chanting gets into full swing.

Townies seemed bewildered by the group.

Tim Pines, a 70-year-old Cambridge resident watching the protest heckled the marchers saying “you students don’t know you’re born.

“You don’t even have to start paying off the debt until you earn £21k, I don’t understand what all the fuss is about.”

An ARU undergrad, Matthew Smith added “People at Cambridge Uni don’t have to worry about money anyway – they’ll all be minted in the future.”

Huppert arrives

Cambridge MP Julian Huppert made an impromptu speech standing on a bench outside St. Mary’s Church.

He told the crowd: “Strikes like this are just the beginning…University should be free. I will vote against any fee rises in parliament”.

MP Julian Huppert tries to make his voice heard.

But his speech was met with a chorus of “All cuts are wrong” from the crowd.

CUSU President, Rahul Mansagani could barely be heard over the crowd as he said: “This is not a good deal for students, Universities or society.

“We should not stand by and watch as students are priced out of the education system.

“It’s an outrage and a betrayal of students by the Lib Dems.”

Juan Zober de Francisco, the President of King’s College Students’ Union, donned a morph suit in aid of the event. He told The Tab “We’re not all against Tories or anything; it’s actually about access to Higher Education.”

A letter was delivered to the Vice Chancellor demanding that he publicly oppose cuts to the Higher Education system.

A national march organised by the national student unions will take place on Wednesday in London. The event’s facebook group has attracted almost 10,000 attendees, although not going to the march has proved even more popular, with a staggering 33,893 down as ‘Not Attending’ so far.