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[Benny The Noon]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11726822

There have been violent scenes as tens of thousands of people protested against plans to treble tuition fees and cut university funding in England.

Demonstrators stormed a building in Westminster housing the Conservative Party head quarters, smashed windows and got on to the roof.

Outside, a crowd of thousands surged as placards and banners were set on fire and missiles were thrown.

Student leaders condemned the violence as "despicable".

They say about 50,000 people took part in a march through Westminster earlier.

A stand-off is still taking place between demonstrators and the police, with protesters surging forward at 30 Millbank, chanting.
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AT THE SCENE

Mike Sargeant, BBC Political Correspondent

The police seem to have a measure of control over the building now. The line of riot police is holding firm and stopping anyone else from entering the building. It still seems there are some protesters on the roof and in other parts of the building.

Some of the students are dispersing, but in the last hour people have been turning up who are not necessarily part of the original protest. They're wearing hoods covering their faces, and arriving with cricket bats and other improvised weapons.

It's calmer than it was, but objects are still being thrown, and there are hundreds if not thousands of students observing events.

The police presence in the building has certainly increased, and they're better equipped, with helmets and riot shields, than they were initially.

According to Scotland Yard, 10 people have been taken to hospitals in London for treatment - including three police officers. None was seriously injured.

The vast majority of demonstrators had been peaceful, a statement said, but "a small minority" had damaged property.

At one point, a fire extinguisher was reported to have been thrown from the roof.

BBC News correspondent Mike Sergeant is at the scene.

He said protesters on the roof had thrown liquids down and a female police officer had been injured.

At 1700 GMT he said the police had "largely taken control" of the building; he had seen some protesters escorted out by officers and the crowds outside were gradually dispersing.

"The police have largely established control of the building. They are gradually moving the crowd back, perhaps a metre every minute." he said.

Students shouted: "No ifs, no buts, no education cuts" as the line of riot police pushed them backwards into the street.
Angry

One of the protesters who got on to the roof was Manchester student Emily Parks.

She said she had no regrets.

"It shows how angry people are," she told BBC News.

"Why is our education being cut? Why are tuition fees going up here when in other parts people have free education?

"People have felt the need to take matters into their own hands."

Demonstrators were also cleared from outside the Liberal Democrat headquarters, where a car window has been smashed.

Elsewhere, the massive rally had passed off peacefully.

Hundreds of coach loads of students and lecturers had travelled to London from across England for the demonstration in Whitehall, with 2,000 students also travelling from Wales.

President of the National Union of Students Aaron Porter condemned the violence as "despicable".

"This was not part of our plan," he said.

"This action was by others who have come out and used this opportunity to hijack a peaceful protest."
Student protest outside 30 Millbank Police in riot helmets formed a line to keep protesters out of the building

The NUS is threatening to try to unseat Liberal Democrat MPs who go back on pre-election pledges they made to oppose any rise in tuition fees.

Higher education funding is being cut by 40% - with teaching grants being all but wiped out except for science and maths.

The government expects the costs of teaching other courses to be funded by tuition fees.

It proposes that tuition fees should rise from 2012.

The plan is for a lower cap at £6,000, with universities able to charge up to £9,000 - triple the current cap - in "exceptional circumstances".

Ministers insist their plans offer a "fair deal for students".
Question Time clash

Earlier on Wednesday, at Question Time in the Commons, the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg had a fiery exchange with Labour's Harriet Harman over fees.
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He was accused of hypocrisy, because the Liberal Democrats opposed tuition fees in the run-up to the election.

But he said Labour had brought in tuition fees - and had no policy on university funding.

Ms Harman said Nick Clegg was "going along with a Tory plan - to shove the cost of higher education on to students and their families".

Twice, she asked him to specify the size of the cut to university teaching grants - a figure she said was 80%.

But Mr Clegg did not say - and instead attacked Labour's record on fees.

"Against fees in 1997 - introduced a few months later; against in manifesto in 2001 - introduced top up fees," he said.

NUS president Aaron Porter says students will attempt to force a by-election in the constituencies of MPs who renege on a pre-election pledge to oppose any hike.

He said: "We will initiate a right to recall against any MP that breaks their pledge on tuition fees."

In a speech in June, the deputy prime minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the coalition would bring in a right for voters to re-call their MP and force a by-election if he or she was found to have been engaged in "serious wrong-doing".

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The students want to re-kindle the activism of the past

Students plan to make Mr Clegg their first target - and say they will be collecting signatures in his constituency on Monday.

But as yet, no laws have been brought in to make such "re-calls" possible.
'Unbearable debt'

The Universities Minister David Willetts said the new system would be fairer than the present one, offering more help to the poorest students.
Student protest The earlier protest was peaceful

Students would not have to pay anything "up-front" and as graduates, would only have to pay back their tuition fee loans once they were earning £21,000 or more.

"It's a very progressive package and I hope young people will not be put off," he said.

"We are really putting power in the hands of students. The money will go where they choose but they will only have to pay back when they are graduates in well-paid jobs.

"I hope at the end of this we will have a better university system than we have at the moment."

Among the crowds at the rally in London were about 400 students from Oxford.

Oxford University Student Union President David Barclay said: "This is the day a generation of politicians learn that though they might forget their promises, students won't.

Also there was Johnny Davis, who travelled from Birmingham University, with 11 coach loads of students.

"The level of passion to protest is amazing," he said.

"It shows how people are very concerned. It seems that students are getting hit time after time.

"This is an outrage to all students who have been told for the last decade to raise their aspirations and go to university."
Regrettable

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said the actions of a minority should not distract from today's message.

"The overwhelming majority of staff and students on the march came here to to send a clear and peaceful message to the politicians," she said.

"The actions of a minority, out of 50,000 people, is regrettable."

Greg Judge, a student at the Centre for Deaf Studies in Bristol and an executive member of the youth wing of the Lib Dems, said: "The government needs to think again and about the damage it will cause to a generation of young people if this increase goes ahead".

Anna Tennant-Siren, a student at the University of Ulster in Coleraine, said: "I am here because it is important that students stand up and shout about what is going on.

"Politicians don't seem to care. They should be taking money from people who earn seven-figure salaries, not from students who don't have any money."

[zarababe]

nearly 40,000 in debt it is predicted per student.. what with 500,000 ps jobs to go to.. it could be a winter of discontent

[Benny The Noon]

Students in London are protesting about higher tuition fees and are complaining of police brutality and heavy tactics being used in order for them to disperse. Police are believed to be using boxes of soap, job adverts and threatening some with haircuts!

[Kharhaz]

Students in London are protesting about higher tuition fees and are complaining of police brutality and heavy tactics being used in order for them to disperse. Police are believed to be using boxes of soap, job adverts and threatening some with haircuts!

Nice one Benny !

My lad went on a trip to Hull university with his school and was told he would need at least £3,000 if he wanted to join. Naturally I told him not a chance!

When I left school I was working and training at the same time. I didnt need university to become a cellarman, or an administrator.

How many kids are at university studying to become an actor or a beautician only to become a bar man at the end of it?

Most of these kids are dreamers being encouraged by the parents to keep on dreaming.

The fees have risen, then look elsewhere, consider alternatives, or go on a protest and act like spoilt kids.

W@nkers. 

[tubby]

The age of affordable education is coming to an end. I wonder what this will do to the number of skilled workers in Britain over the next 20 years or so.

[tubby]

nearly 40,000 in debt it is predicted per student.. what with 500,000 ps jobs to go to.. it could be a winter of discontent

That is disgusting!

[Kharhaz]

nearly 40,000 in debt it is predicted per student.. what with 500,000 ps jobs to go to.. it could be a winter of discontent

That is disgusting!

If per student can get them self into that level of debt before they have secured them self a half decent job, I cant help but feel university would not have benefited them later on in life.

[tubby]

You know they say for a lot of things a degree isn't that useful when say compared to a few years of work experience. For some things of course like medicine, law ect... higher education is the only way but this will surely have a bad knock on effect 15 - 20 years down the line. Young people find it hard enough as it is now to get on the property ladder. And now add 40k onto someones debts too?

Scary times ahead

[metalhead]

Students in London are protesting about higher tuition fees and are complaining of police brutality and heavy tactics being used in order for them to disperse. Police are believed to be using boxes of soap, job adverts and threatening some with haircuts!

Nice one Benny !

My lad went on a trip to Hull university with his school and was told he would need at least £3,000 if he wanted to join. Naturally I told him not a chance!

When I left school I was working and training at the same time. I didnt need university to become a cellarman, or an administrator.

How many kids are at university studying to become an actor or a beautician only to become a bar man at the end of it?

Most of these kids are dreamers being encouraged by the parents to keep on dreaming.

The fees have risen, then look elsewhere, consider alternatives, or go on a protest and act like spoilt kids.

W@nkers. 

other countries give better education benefits and cheaper alternatives with low cost of living.

Canada (depends where)

My uncle did his post - graduate from Hull university, loved it there good school

[Kharhaz]

You know they say for a lot of things a degree isn't that useful when say compared to a few years of work experience. For some things of course like medicine, law ect... higher education is the only way but this will surely have a bad knock on effect 15 - 20 years down the line. Young people find it hard enough as it is now to get on the property ladder. And now add 40k onto someones debts too?

Scary times ahead

Thats true, but I would be interested to see what percentage of students are studying for medicine.

Like I said my lad went on a trip to a university, he wants to study in computer animation. Is that worth getting heavily in debt for? And what are the chances of him finding work afterwards in that field?

This is where the parents have to step in and put a more real portrait of life to them.

[tubby]

You know they say for a lot of things a degree isn't that useful when say compared to a few years of work experience. For some things of course like medicine, law ect... higher education is the only way but this will surely have a bad knock on effect 15 - 20 years down the line. Young people find it hard enough as it is now to get on the property ladder. And now add 40k onto someones debts too?

Scary times ahead

Thats true, but I would be interested to see what percentage of students are studying for medicine.

Like I said my lad went on a trip to a university, he wants to study in computer animation. Is that worth getting heavily in debt for? And what are the chances of him finding work afterwards in that field?

This is where the parents have to step in and put a more real portrait of life to them.

Where I work we have quite a few in the graphic design field. TBH Most of them are self taught or go for independant courses from private institutions and in that field ultimately it's your portfolio that gets you a job, not a certificate.

In that field though deffo not worth getting into debt up to you eyeballs for.

[metalhead]

You know they say for a lot of things a degree isn't that useful when say compared to a few years of work experience. For some things of course like medicine, law ect... higher education is the only way but this will surely have a bad knock on effect 15 - 20 years down the line. Young people find it hard enough as it is now to get on the property ladder. And now add 40k onto someones debts too?

Scary times ahead

Thats true, but I would be interested to see what percentage of students are studying for medicine.

Like I said my lad went on a trip to a university, he wants to study in computer animation. Is that worth getting heavily in debt for? And what are the chances of him finding work afterwards in that field?

This is where the parents have to step in and put a more real portrait of life to them.

business is the way to go mate, try to convince him to take that field, defo worth the investment.

[Kharhaz]

business is the way to go mate, try to convince him to take that field, defo worth the investment.

I took business courses when I left school, thats how I got my first job. Unfortunately though, Grimsby is a blackspot, and has got worse over the years.

[metalhead]

business is the way to go mate, try to convince him to take that field, defo worth the investment.

I took business courses when I left school, thats how I got my first job. Unfortunately though, Grimsby is a blackspot, and has got worse over the years.

I was going to say just open up your own shop or bar...

[Kharhaz]

business is the way to go mate, try to convince him to take that field, defo worth the investment.

I took business courses when I left school, thats how I got my first job. Unfortunately though, Grimsby is a blackspot, and has got worse over the years.

I was going to say just open up your own shop or bar...