Guild President hits back at Defend Education

Poppy fought back on Friday evening, with a robust response to Hattie Craig and the rest of Defend Education.

In a statement to The Tab, she said: “Defend Education Birmingham have completely isolated themselves from the majority of students at the University of Birmingham.”

In response to the suggestion that she is not standing up for the opinions of students, Poppy stated that many students “may have actually sympathised with some of the policies they campaign for.”

Two students, including 22 year old Defend Education member and Guild Councillor Simon Furse, have been charged with violent conduct after Wednesday’s National Demonstration after the protest resulted in criminal damage and violent clashes with security staff.

West Midlands Police confirm Simon Furse’s appearance in Court on Friday Morning.

Two further students have even been suspended from the University for their involvement.

The sanctions follow the graffitiing of the grade two listed Memorial Clocktower (‘Old Joe’), and confrontation with security staff as protestors made repeated attempts to force entry to the Aston Webb Building.

Old Joe covered in graffiti after Wednesday’s protest – Charlotte Wilson

After bypassing security via a side entrance, protestors went in to occupation in the Great Hall, where they made attempts to barricade themselves in. Defend Education claim the group left “peacefully” at around 16:30, but were met by police at the buildings only exit.

Defend Education claims that they were ‘kettled’ for between two and four hours without access to food or water, and that one student collapsed, requiring overnight hospital treatment.

The police only allowed students to leave once they had taken their details, which some refused to do and were therefore arrested. Defend Education claim that this was “in breach of human rights legislation”.

Protestors surround a lone policeman before other officers arrived – Charlotte Wilson

Those arrested were taken to the nearby Bournville and Steelhouse Lane police stations, where they were held for over 24 hours.

Simon Furse, 22, was charged on Friday morning (31st Jan) alongside two other men with violent disorder. This charge carries a maximum sentence of 8 years in jail.

The other demonstrators arrested have been bailed until March 26th, with conditions which bailed Defend Education member Kelly Rogers labelled “incredibly harsh”.

The bail conditions listed for the students released from custody on Thursday.

Support has been hard to come by however, as the student-elected Guild Council expressed their disapproval, voting to censure Hattie Craig, (Vice President of Education). Hattie herself was not arrested, but breached her previous injunction by being in occupation as she entered the Aston Webb Building. Guild Councillor James Bowker was particularly frustrated at this, claiming that Hattie, who took a day of paid work off without notice to protest, was fulfilling “a necessary part of her mandate”.

Hattie Craig, Vice President of Education

Hattie chose to voice her frustration on Facebook, posting: “I was not there to defend myself on account of offering support to arrested students.”

Clearly frustrated by the Guild’s condemnation of the illegal activity on campus, she went on:

“I would further like to publicly state that I do not agree with the Guild’s statement regarding yesterday’s demonstration.

The statement says the Guild is disappointed with yesterday’s actions; I am disappointed with the Guild.”

There has been widespread shock at the events that unfolded on Wednesday, with many students and staff acknowledging the graffiti as a complete defacing of the campus.

Birmingham Students have largely responded negatively

Defend Education have called on some of their external support however, with Michael Chessum, head of the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts and supervisor of Defend Education claiming “it’s not really vandalism… it’s part of a process to democratise universities”.

The Tab approached Chessum for a comment about the use of smoke grenades against security staff. 

He said: “It’s just smoke. Things will get messy occasionally.”

It is apparent that despite the large scale backlash against the Demonstration by university students, Chessum refused to accept that many students have found the protest to be deplorable and non-representative of their interests.

“I think it has furthered our cause,” he said.  “It was very productive.” 

Despite his optimism, a large number of students made their opinions known when asked on campus today.

One student commented, “I don’t give a shit about Defend Education; I do give a shit however about their disrupting of my lectures and defacing of my university.”

Chessum dismissed this comment as a “Philistine’s perspective” and when asked if he was willing to apologise even remotely for the damage and disruption caused, he answered bluntly: “No I’m not.”

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