Student protests, politics and Parliament

"When young people march to have their voice heard and then see that the overwhelming depiction of their freedom of expression is a focus on a minority of morons who want to smash up the joint, it is hardly a good advert for robust political debate."

Easily fixed. Identify the morons who want to smash up the joint, hand them over to the police and give evidence against them in court. It's an open question that had the 'responsible' protesters at Millbank done that in a timely manner, perhaps the Met would not have adopted riot gear as the starting point for their dress code last week. Instead we get media coverage of what happened, focusing on the unacceptable violence and criminality that hardly anyone acted to prevent. Well done to the few that did, you should have had more recognition and coverage.

It is interesting reading this, as I was not present at the protest, but was watching it live on the news, perhaps giving a better vantage point of the whole protest. It seems that the sheer size of the protest meant that many who attended were not aware of events happening elsewhere. The police were already having missiles thrown at them when they made the decision to change into riot gear. The police horses had also had missiles thrown at them, and a decision seemed to be made for them to retreat. However, as soon as they retreated, protesters charged the police lines, and the horses quickly returned. I believe that this is the point at which they charged the crowd. I was also under the impression that the protesters were not supposed to enter Parliament Square - there were high barriers cordoning it off which some of the first protesters climbed over and tore down, later using them as weapons to throw at the police lines. This was all long before kettling began. Yet it seems that many people were unaware of this - perhaps if they had known, they would have made the decision to leave much earlier.

There you go then jessica - you saw it on which, sky, bbc, ??? all well known pillars of journalistic virtue and truth. This provided you with a better overall picture than if you had actually been there - complete with a lovely narrator to explain any anomalous visions like maybe horses charging peaceful protesters or clearly charged up and vicious policemen (versus kids?). A lot of believing and perhapsing in your vision of what must have happened in order to fit with the narrative you wish to keep. i would suggest the possibility that at least some of the violence was deliberately orchestrated by the police, plenty of motive if you can think about it. also i would suggest broadening your sources of information - and maybe go out and have a look around now and again - it looks better than hd.

oh and veop - maybe people are so angry that they had their votes stolen and effectively their government stolen that they feel this is the only way to make a point. remember over 1 million people marched against the war - and were later proven to be 100% correct - where was the point in their protest - who listened - you? when this number of people march and your government has more colours than josephs coat - does not have the peoples authority to act in this way.

Gerang, I would not have gone to the protest if I had had to - common sense predicted that some protesters (not students) were going to use it as an excuse for violence. My point if you had read my post carefully was that due to the sheer size of the protest it would have been entirely possibly for many protesters to be unaware of pockets of trouble - why else would peaceful protesters have stayed once it was clear the protest had been sabotaged by trouble-makers? This was clearly not a demonstration to bring kids to.

I would like to hear the motive you say police had for wanting to encourage protesters to hit them with metal barriers, poles, or snooker balls, flares and whatever else some of the protesters thought was necessary to bring to a peaceful protest?

maybe they need to demonstrate their worth to avoid being cut so deep. theres one possible motive. now same question to you. why would students deliberately provoke heavily protected and well armed and organised police when they could not possibly defend themselves against the brutality witnessed (its there if you look, i promise) against them. and remember most of them were kids.

people have a right to protest. kids have a right to protest. they should not be prevented from doing so by the threat of someone elses violence and indeed the police have a duty to ensure that this is so. now where was the polices preventative operation, which ringleaqders did they identify and take out before the protest a la g20/irag war protests. hmmm, they didnt and violence was allowed to happen and hey presto bad publicity for the students, great for the police and government and all because of a handful of peoples actions. is it fair that the students cause is damaged in this way and how would you suggest they prevent this, it is the polices job. please think about it.

they couldnt leave because they were being given false directions by the police (there are hundreds of reputable people reporting this and loads of videos showing it actually happening - really) and they were also being kettled, a barbarian tactic not even fit for belfast - what would you expect of a large number of young people held for hours against their will to do, sing.

Gerang, what do you expect the police to do when they have large numbers of people attacking them. Just stand there and take it?

At last month's protest some idiot threw a fire extinguisher from a roof which would have killed someone (police or protester) if it had hit them. You are aware of the provocation the police face aren't you?

So many protests seem to attract people who are just up for a fight with the police and its sad but it makes it tough for the people who wish to protest peacefully because I believe, in this country, we all have a right to protest.

so, its now large numbers of people attacking the police - in other words a riot. now i didnt see any riot and i saw nothing to justify the level of aggression or the tactics used. i'm not alone in this interpretation. nor are you in yours. but evidence speaks for itself and as i said before, its all there.

your point about the fire extinguisher idiot is what? there are idiots around so a whole protest be damned? the idiot has been arrested and will be dealt with accordingly, thats how it works. its also the polices job to deal with provocation, not to incite it and take advantage of it or to manage it poorly and allow it to spiral out of control. how much responsibility should they bear?

we all do have a right to protest and to our own opinions, however naive or misguided we may be. all of our rights should be protected equally and it is here where the demise of britain will finally come because that was what was great about it...

I was a student not so long ago and was shocked at how many people take their university education for granted. There is a general lack of seriousness regarding undergraduate study both students and academics which turns the whole operation, I'm afraid to say, into a waste of time for a large proportion of students there.

On a slightly different note, I think that new opportunities are emerging for universities to secure funding from business and it is time for higher education institutions to start thinking outside of the box for new sources of funding.

For example, Google is in the process of redefining the incentive structure between the corporate world and public institutions such as universities. A business who can secure a website link from a university website will be strongly prioritized in the search results - a great leg-up for them in business terms. A good explanation can be found here .If this authority were leveraged properly, perhaps educational instutions could use their clout to secure funding/apprenticeships/sponsorship and other kinds of favours from businesses.

Although I am not suggesting that this will avert public funding cuts, I think that there is potential for more creative, entrepreneurial leadership when it comes to fundraising for universities.