VIOLENCE AT DEMO 2010: STUDENTS BREAK INTO TORY HQ

The peaceful protest against higher tuition fees today turned to violence, with students breaking into Milibank Tower.


The peaceful protest against higher tuition fees today turned to violence, with students breaking into Milibank Tower, the main Tory Headquarters. They also started a fire in the street outside.

Reports say that up to 50,000 students are attending the national protest in London, which has been organised jointly by the National Union of Students (NUS), and the University & Colleges Union (UCU).

Below is a video the moment that ruffians broke into the Tory HQ:

The police at Milibank Tower were clearly not prepared for the violence from the students, as hundreds broke inside, shocking the receptionist.

The crowd of students were pushing forward at the relatively small number of police in attempt to break into the HQ. We saw policemen throw punches at at some of the protesters.

Students threw signs and anything else they can get their hands on at police.

Teddy Wilkes, the SUSU Athletic Union President, shared on Facebook earlier: “Holy crap s**t hit the fan quick outside Tory hq!”

While the protest was organised as a peaceful event, the majority of students were not involved in the violence.

NUS President Aaron Porter has condemned the violence, saying that a few students are spoiling the protest for the rest of the students. It does seem like there are A LOT of violent protesters though.

A Southampton student who was not at the protest today commented: “They really shouldn’t have organised this protest the day after release of the new Call of Duty!”

Another student tweeted, “Pizza Express next to Millbank Tower must be doing roaring trade in student discounted lunches”.

Winner of the best sign competition

There has been an unofficial ‘sign competition’ by students at the protest, with the winner being, “This shit wouldn’t happen at Hogwarts”.

While there are over 50,000 students at the national protest, there are plenty of students who are not attending because they don’t believe in the cause.

Matthew Quinn, a Southampton student who is not at the protest, “What exactly are they doing? Pissing off the rest of the country? This march will do nothing.

Becky Maclean, last year’s VP Education and Representation, retweeted earlier: “Whilst I deplore today’s violence the real vandals are those slashing funding to our world class uni system”.

Were you at the protest today? Let us know your comments and opinions below: