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Nick Clegg a target for 'legitimate force' by activists

Tim Iredale|18:12 UK time, Friday, 19 November 2010

Nick Clegg

Student Union leaders are appealing for calm ahead of a "day of action" next week in protest at the proposed rise in university tuition fees.

A radical group called the Education Activist Network is planning to target the Liberal Democrats on Wednesday, with reports that activists will use "legitimate force" to occupy Lib Dem party buildings, including the Sheffield Hallam constituency office of the Deputy Prime Minster Nick Clegg.

Some fear the protests could lead to a repeat of the violent scenes witnessed at the recent Westminster march, which saw the Conservative Party headquarters attacked by a minority of extremists.

South Yorkshire Police say they are reviewing security arrangements at Nick Clegg's constituency office.

The President of Sheffield Hallam University's Students' Union, Caroline Dowd, has condemned talk of violent action. She tells this week's Politics Show in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire: "The protest that is meant to be happening in Sheffield is something we are not part of and we don't support. We urge all students not to get involved in it."

The%20National%20Union%20of%20Students wants voters to be given the power of "recall" to sack MPs who break election promises. Ironically this is one policy which Nick Clegg had proposed himself - where ten per cent of the electorate could force a by-election if for whatever reason they were unhappy with their elected representative.

The campaign against higher university fees could now be at a crossroads with some students preferring the power of peaceful protest and others opting for a more radical approach.

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