Protesters liberate broken Tory HQ and take to the roof as anti-cuts resisters resist shock therapy

[Magda Hassan]

Protesters smash into Tory HQ and storm the roof as anti-cuts rioters hijack tuition fees march



By Nicola Boden
Last updated at 8:29 PM on 10th November 2010

• 35 arrests as 52,000 protest in Westminster over shake-up
  
• Millbank and Tory HQ overrun by rampaging students
  
• Rioters warn: 'This is only the beginning'
  
  
• Eight are treated in hospital, with three police also injured
  
• 'Embarrassed' police admit they were only prepared for peaceful march
  
  
• MI5 HQ sealed with officers guarding exits
  
  
• Clegg defends Lib Dem U-turn on hike at PMQs
  
  
• Cameron: Rise will mean foreign students pay less
  

Students went on the rampage today as a huge protest against the coalition's controversial move to hike tuition fees turned violent.

Around 52,000 students and teachers travelled to London for a march and rally in Westminster against the Government's plans to raise fees from £3,290-a-year to up to £9,000.
Scotland Yard appeared to have been caught on the hop as the peaceful protest descended into riots this afternoon when many left the planned route and headed to Tory party headquarters.
A police spokesman confirmed tonight 35 people had been arrested for a range of offences, including criminal damage and trespass, and were now in custody at stations across central London.

Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said the force should have anticipated the level of violence 'better', adding: 'It's not acceptable. It's an embarrassment for London and to us and we have to do something about that.

Clashes: A protester kicks in the glass at Millbank Tower in Westminster today




Riots: Youths wearing hoodies and masks smashed through reinforced glass at Mllbank

'I just do think that we cannot accept that level of behaviour. I think we've also got to ask ourselves some questions. This level of violence was largely unexpected and what lessons can we learn for the future. We are already doing that and asking those questions.

'Certainly I am determined to have a thorough investigation into this matter.'
Asked why police did not manage to keep law and order, he said: 'It must have been an awful time for those people trying to go about their daily business within those buildings.

'I feel terribly sorry that they have had to go through what must have been quite a traumatic experience. We are determined that does not happen again. That's unacceptable to us.

'We want to send a very clear message to people demonstrating, to say 'fine come to the streets of London if you feel you need to peacefully demonstrate, but we cannot allow thuggish behaviour like that'.'

He went on: 'I think the scenes that we have seen today both inside and outside Millbank are wholly unacceptable, disgraceful behaviour.

'It's just thuggish, loutish behaviour by criminals and we need to ensure that we have a thorough investigation to bring these criminals to account.

'We didn't expect this level of violence. There was a lot of work done with the students themselves before this demonstration and there is no real history of that level of violence.'
A controlled release of students from the building in Millbank and the famous Millbank Tower next door was underway tonight, with a thick line of riot police surrounding the area.

Even MI5's headquarters at nearby Thames House on the other side of the river was sealed off by heavy metal doors, with police on guard at all exits.
As crowds gathered outside Millbank Tower at lunchtime, the demonstration was still peaceful and even when a surge made it inside the building it was still relatively good-tempered.
Protesters threw smoke bombs before leaving again without confrontation but once outside, youths dressed in hoodies and balaclavas went wild and smashed through the reinforced windows.

Two hours later, the entrance had been destroyed and was totally overrun as riot police battled to regain control. Huge panels of glass had been smashed by protesters hurling chairs.
With scores of protesters on the roof, police were also warning about concrete being thrown to the ground below. Reports claimed a ceiling had been brought down by the crowds.

More...

• 'You're like a Fresher who has met a dodgy bloke': Harman warns Clegg he'll regret tuition fees U-turn
  
• Revealed: Crippling 30-year graduate debt trap that will see students paying off their loans even when their OWN children go to university
  

By mid-afternoon, scores had also made it inside 30 Millbank where the Tories are based. They chanted 'Tory scum' and 'Nick Clegg, we know you, you're a ****ing Tory too'.

Scotland Yard admitted it had been planning for a 'peaceful demonstration' but insisted it had called in reinforcements as soon as they were needed. Several arrests have already been made.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Federation said: 'Once again, Metropolitan Police officers stand between violent protesters, innocent members of the public and property while under attack and facing extreme provocation.

'The officers have shown great restraint and professionalism.

'It is a reminder that the Government must maintain the number of fully warranted police officers to ensure that policing these spontaneous incidents, along with their everyday duties, can be sustained in the capital.

'While we understand and support the right to peaceful protest, police officers must be supported when dealing with such unprovoked violence.'


Going wild: Young students trashing the entrance to Millbank Tower



No control: Protesters used furniture to smash windows at Millbank







Unprepared? Injured police officers are led away from the clashes

Unions suggested the protest had been 'hijacked' by Left-wing rioters, who had planned their attack beforehand and condemned the violence as 'despicable'.

London Mayor Boris Johnson echoed the sentiments, also describing the rioters as a 'despicable minority'.

'I am appalled that a small minority have today shamefully abused their right to protest,' the mayor said in a statement.
'This is intolerable and all those involved will be pursued and they will face the full force of the law.'

In a statement from inside Tory HQ tonight, the rioters warned: 'This is only the beginning. We stand against the cuts, in solidarity with all the poor, elderly, disabled and working people affected.

'We are against all cuts and the marketisation of education. We are occupying the roof of Tory HQ to show we are against the Tory system of attacking the poor and helping the rich.'
Elsewhere, around 100 students broke away to protest outside the Business Department. Scores of police had to move in to stop them storming that building too.

One man was hauled from the crowd outside Parliament, wrestled to the ground and handcuffed before being carried away.
At least eight people were taken to hospital for treatment to minor injuries and bloodied police officers were seen being led away. Three were later taken to hospital while 14 were treated at the scene by St John's Ambulance volunteers.

Anger: Thousands gathered outside Tory Party headquarters


Demonstrators wave a flag from the roof 30 Millbank after storming the building


Riot police stand guard inside the wrecked entrance to Millbank Tower

The clashes are just the start of what threatens to be a winter of discontent as public anger rises up against the Government's drastic spending cuts.

There is abject fury that the Lib Dems have ditched their pre-election pledge to scrap all tuition fees and signed up to the increase. Placards accused them of being 'traitors'.

National Union of Students president Aaron Porter warned that the Lib Dems would lose the support of a generation of young people if they refused to back down.

'MPs must now think twice before going ahead with this outrageous policy,' he said.

Demonstrators chanted 'Tory scum' and daubed 'Tory pigs' on the walls of Millbank in protest



Demonstrators clash with police as they clamber through a smashed window at 30 Millbank



ON top of the world: Protesters on the roof of Millbank, home of Tory party headquarters


[B]CAMERON FUELS FIRE BY ANNOUNCING FEE FREEZE FOR OVERSEAS STUDENTS
[/B]


Meanwhile, David Cameron, on his visit to China, told students there the changes in the UK would mean fees for foreign students won't rise so quickly.

'Foreign students will still pay a significant amount of money but we should be able to keep that growth under control,' he said at Beijing University.

He told students that charges for foreign students had to date been hiked as a way of 'keeping them down on our domestic students'.



Mr Porter described the violence as 'despicable' and said a small minority had 'hijacked' the rally, suggesting they had planned it beforehand.

UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt added: '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. The actions of a minority, out of 50,000 people, is regrettable.'
Before the protest turned nasty, Nick Clegg was savaged over the U-turn at PMQs where he was standing in for David Cameron who is in China.

Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman likened Mr Clegg to a student who had met a 'dodgy bloke' in Freshers' Week and done something he will regret.

She claimed he had been 'led astray' by the Tories. The deputy PM insisted the plans were progressive and unavoidable, and accused Labour of offering no alternative.

Miss Harman taunted Mr Clegg from the very start, reminding MPs of the Lib Dem pledge to scrap tuition fees and asking him to tell the House how this was progressing.

The Deputy PM was forced to admit it was 'an extraordinarily difficult issue' and hinted for the first time that Tory pressure might have also played a part in the shift.
'I have been entirely open about the fact that we have not been able to deliver the policy that we held in Opposition,' he said.

'Because of the financial situation, because of the compromises of the coalition government we have had to put forward a different policy.'
He insisted that the Lib Dems had stuck to their 'wider ambition' of making sure going to university was handled in a 'progressive' way and did not deter poorer students.
Miss Harman was scathing about his claim that public finances were to blame, pointing out that the changes only start in 2012/13 whereas the deficit should be addressed by 2014.
'This is about him going along with a Tory plan to shove the cost of He onto students and their families,' she said.




Vandals: Youths taking hammers and sticks to the glass of Millbank Tower



Flashpoint: Thousands of students outside Millbank Tower this afternoon




Chaos: A protester lights a flare outside the besieged entrance to Tory Party headquarters

'We all know what it's like, you're at Freshers Week, you meet up with a dodgy bloke and do things you regret. Isn't it true he's been led astray by the Tories?'
Mr Clegg reminded that Labour had also attacked tuition fees but introduced them when they came to power and how the previous government had initiated the Browne Review.

'I know she thinks she can re-position the Labour Party as the champion of students but let's remember the Labour Party's record,' he said.

Miss Harman accused the coalition of hiking up fees while they are 'pulling the plug on funding and dumping the cost on students'.
Anger: Students protesting against tuition fees rises in Westminster today



Peaceful: Students on the official march earlier today


She pressed Mr Clegg again: 'During the election he was the one who hawked himself around university campuses pledging to vote against tuition fees.

'By the time it came to Freshers' Week, he had broken his promise. Every single Lib Dem MP signed the pledge to scrap tuition fees. He must honour that promise. Will he think again?'

A student wearing a costume made from bank notes near Parliament

Mr Clegg said: 'The truth is before the election we didn't know the unholy mess that was going to be left to us by her party.

'On this issue as on so many issues the two parties on this side of the house have come together to create a solution for the future.'
The changes, unveiled last month, will see undergraduates saddled with debts of up to £43,500 as they begin their working lives in the biggest shake-up of higher education for half a century.
Middle-class graduates will bear the brunt of the pain, with those on £45,000 repaying nearly as much as those earning more than £80,000 since the better off will repay their loans more quickly.

Ministers insist that everyone will see their monthly payments fall because they have raised the threshold at which graduates start to pay back their loans from £15,000 to £21,000.

The Department for Business said a graduate on £30,000 would repay £15.58 a week but average debts for a new graduate will soar from £21,000 to £30,000.

Only a minority of graduates will ever clear their debts. Most will be repaying well into their 50s and will see outstanding debt written off after 30 years.

In the run-up to the election every Lib Dem MP signed a pledge to vote against any increase in tuition fees. The party’s manifesto also promised to scrap tuition fees.

But Business Secretary Vince Cable announced last month that he was backing Lord Browne’s review of student funding, which will saddle the average student with debts of more than £30,000.

The move sparked uproar in Lib Dem ranks, with former leader Sir Menzies Campbell among those who are set to rebel and vote against the measures in the Commons.

Lib Dem local government spokesman Lord Greaves warned the party will be sees as 'cheats, hypocrites and liars' for breaking their pledge and accused Mr Clegg and Mr Cable of 'shoddy, unprincipled behaviour'.

The coalition agreement allows Lib Dem MPs to abstain on the vote on tuition fees if they find the policy unacceptable. But several MPs are expected to go further and vote against.

Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes has hinted the party's backbench MPs could be given an unofficial licence to rebel and stressed their official policy is still to scrap fees.




Heated: Nick Clegg and Harriet Harman were at loggerheads over tuition fees in the Commons at PMQs

[Magda Hassan]

Myths of the Siege of Millbank

By rainylain

On November 10th 2010, students from across the United Kingdom flocked to London to participate in a demonstration against the rise of tuition fees to potentially £9000. Somewhere in the region of 50,000 crowded into the City of Westminster to make their voices heard in what was one of the largest protests seen in the UK for decades. And yet the media have focused on what happened slightly further upriver at 30 Millbank, the building containing the head offices of the Conservative Party.
Quite what happened there varies between media report, but the general impression is that of a riot, small but violent.
I was there. I had earlier marched down Whitehall and Horseguard’s with a variety of groups from a variety of universities, and after meeting up with a friend, moved along to 30 Millbank which lay just beyond the end of the protest route. I saw the bonfires lit in the courtyard, and saw the cracks in the panel windows of the foyer eventually lead to them crashing down. I heard the shouts of the crowd, and I saw people on the roof flying a red flag. I was there.
My friend and I left around 5pm to get coffee, and it was only then we became fully aware of what the media were saying about the events at 30 Millbank, though we’d known the media eye was on us from the moment I looked through the window of Millbank Tower and saw BBC News 24 showing live footage of the 30 Millbank courtyard, including a little me watching myself on television. Plenty of texts from concerned friends came through, telling me I was danger, that this was the G20 protests all over again. Indeed, as we were making our way towards the London Eye, we heard reports that the people still at 30 Millbank were being ‘kettled’ in by police and that mounted police had been sent in. But for the vast majority of the afternoon, the so-called ‘Siege of Millbank’ was no riot, no battleground, not in the same sense as the riots in the outer suburbs of Paris a few years ago where anything and everything was trashed in a general chaos fueled by an angry, and previously ignored, populace. Smashed windows, graffiti, bonfires in the courtyard, yes, but this alongside a crowd who were angry but peaceful, smiling but determined, with only a few choosing to infiltrate the building, a few choosing to express their anger in such a way.
Now, of course, it’s the main story. How sad that in some ways, it had to happen to be such a story. The London Evening Standard‘s earlier editions had the tuition fee demo on the front page, but in a box with a picture saying ‘turn to page 13′. The later editions had ‘STUDENT SIEGE’ being screamed out as the headline with a large photo of one of the bandanna-clad young men who were the doing some of the more aggressive smashing of windows and daubing of graffiti. Nevertheless, as Green blogger The Daily (Maybe) exclaims “It seems that the story is now going to be students smash some glass rather than government smash education”. The protesters are reduced to violent thugs in the pages of the press, leading some to tut over their cereal about how these people clearly don’t deserve an education anyway. Even the NUS have distanced themselves from everything happening at Millbank, writing everyone there off as part of the problem, rather than just the few who caused the property damage. I don’t personally approve of anywhere being smashed up, but it is typical of today’s instant media to focus on the actions and not the causes, and I can understand why people would want to take out their frustartion on the plush sofas and marble walls of Tory Headquarters. The 50,000-strong demo was all about the causes, and the frustration fuelling those in Parliament Square was not of a different ilk to that leading a few to smash Tory windows (just merely more tempered), but only the apparent violence matters. It’s understandable why so many on the demo are so frustrated by those who caused the trouble at Millbank for undermining their efforts, but in all this blaming and sensationalism, a number of myths have formed about what exactly happened down at 30 Millbank.
I was there, and I will now do my best to address them:
MYTH: The ones at 30 Millbank specifically decided to attack Tory HQ, and diverted far from the main demo.
The NUS, in distancing themselves from what happened at 30 Millbank, as well as the media, have liked to make clear that those present at 30 Millbank diverted from the demo and were specifically targeting Tory HQ. The truth isn’t so hard to find, especially given the many signs announcing road closures for a demo from ‘Whitehall to Millbank’. That’s right, the demo route officially ended at Millbank, literally just around the corner from the very visible Millbank Tower. A number of the protesters who marched along Whitehall and Horseguard’s did not stop at Parliament Square, which while I was there had sit-ins taking place, and kept along the route of the demo, which stopped so close to Conservative HQ, that the fact people then went over there should not come as a surprise. A friend and I only headed over there because one of our friends had reached the end of the parade route, and decided to protest in front of Conservative HQ. And why not, anyhow, given that the Tories are the ones leading the tuition fee increases which the whole protest was about anyway!
MYTH: The crowd were waving many placards that had nothing to do with ‘education cuts’, which has been said to show how unfocused the ‘Left’ are.
One placard that right-wing types are mentioning a lot was about cutting Trident, and this they use as evidence that the demonstration was ‘typically for the Left’ unfocused and vague. Umm, no. Leaving Millbank aside for a moment, the tens of thousands in Parliament Square, Horseguard’s Parade, Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, the Strand and the Embankment were very united. Posters, banners and placards focused on different aspects of the tuition fee rises, but nevertheless, they were focused on this one specific area, albeit sometimes using it to highlight the anger with the general cuts as a whole. Most placards were NUS-designed, but the individual ones talked about Nick Clegg being a traitor (due to his now-infamous moment of promising that he wouldn’t rise tuition fees), David Cameron being able to easily afford his own education whilst the protester in question couldn’t, and so forth. Chants included ‘Education is a right, not a privilege’ and ‘You say cut back, we say fight back!’. Ideas of this being wishy-washy are a total fabrication, and perhaps wishful thinking on the part of those who would dismiss the 50,000 strong demonstration as left-wing students having a nice day out. This video demonstrated the atmosphere nicely. To bring this back to Millbank a little, I will mention that the crowd gathered outside 30 Millbank were waving these same placards, with the same focus, and even the graffiti sprayed onto the pillars and walls by the few causing property damage were about fees, and Tory betrayal of the poor and young.

MYTH: The ones at 30 Millbank were not students.
This is something that many of the students on the demo will themselves say. As someone at 30 Millbank, I can tell you that this wasn’t the case. Undoubtedly, there were fringe elements infiltrating the crowd, including a few types who seemed like they liked causing trouble as a living, but this was the minority of the minority. The ones who broke the windows and invaded the rooftop were, on the whole, students, albeit very angry ones, mixed in with a few who were hidden behind bandanas and hoods and whose identity was thus harder to discern. I know a student who was on the roof, and another, Olivia Wedderburn, has spoken to The Guardian about why she was up there. Students come in many different forms, they adhere to stereotypes even less than most professions, especially in a culture where it is now a general expectation, and thus a truth, that one must have a degree to succeed. The thing is, why should it matter if it was just students? Postgraduate students and those towards the end of their degrees won’t even be affected by the tuition fee increases, but they are seeing the channels through which they are gaining the education destroyed. Older people, unemployed graduates like myself, who have our own grievances in addition to this, had much the same strength of feeling, whilst many sixth formers and teenagers were in protest about their own future soon be so out of reach.
MYTH: The ‘Siege of Millbank’ was a riot, with a ‘baying mob’. It was not a protest at all.
I can’t especially blame the vast majority of the United Kingdom for thinking this, even amongst those who perhaps had a moment of glee at seeing the front of Conservative Party HQ shattered. The photos from the protest definitely give the impression of a riot, with flares, people crashing against police riot shields, and smashed up furniture in the lobby. The photos from BBC News online are typical. I’m not saying these photos lie. These things happened. I saw the windows get smashed, I heard the shouting, I smelt the smoke from the bonfires, and I was actually underneath a security camera when someone smashed it, which was frightening, and an action which I have no support for. But that’s the thing. In a lot of the photos, you’ll see the crowd stretching back from those up against the police barricade, and the assumption is that the ones at the front were the thin edge of a violent wedge. Untrue. The vast majority of the hundreds upon hundreds in the courtyard of 30 Millbank were not attacking anything. We were protesters, not rioters, and this video from The Telegraph, otherwise full of the close-ups of those at the front, does briefly show the main crowd at 1:12 in. The crowd were on the whole smiling, and perhaps surprisingly for many, the general atmosphere was not dissimilar to what I had earlier experienced amongst the main demo on Whitehall and in Parliament Square, albeit with an element of shock at what was going on at the front (and on the roof). One student who stood next to New Statesman blogger Laurie Penny told her “this is scary, but not as scary as what’s happening to our future”. Whilst we nearly all peaceful, we were also angry, and 30 Millbank provided a focus for this in terms of our attention, just as there was a wave of boos as the earlier march passed Downing Street. This was a protest, whilst the ones at the front caused something more like a riot. But then again it wasn’t…
MYTH: Even though not everyone at 30 Millbank was violent, they supported the violence.
Firstly, I need to point out that the word ‘violence’ is being misused. There was some violence – both some of the protesters and some of the police got bloody faces, as a number of press reports show – but the vast amount of the actions which are being roundly condemned were not violence, but ‘property damage’. Windows were smashed in, not generally faces. Even in the footage, the ones who entered 30 Millbank mostly did not fight the police – there was resistance, but not, on the whole, aggression. Secondly, I need to point out that we were not a violent crowd, and that we actually condemned any violence or threats of violence that happened. When someone smashed the security camera above my head, most people backed away from the young man with the large stick. Yet one incident truly shows the nature of the crowd, and unsurprisingly, you won’t find it in most media reports (because it conflicts with the impression of the ‘Siege’ being a riot). Some of the people on the roof starting looting things from inside 30 Millbank and throwing them down onto the police line below. There was some mild amusement at a toilet roll floating down, though generally it seemed a little pointless and silly to the ones around me in the crowd. Then someone threw a fire extinguisher off the roof at the police below. Some of the people in the crowd screamed, and very soon the chant started up “Stop throwing shit”. The ones on the roof soon got the message. Here’s video evidence. Now, does this really tally with the general impression the country has of a riot? I won’t dent that there was support though. We were angry, and this was a chance to show that, to shout back to the smug politicians in their ivory, no, glass, tower.
MYTH: The protests got the wrong building!
I’ve noticed a few Telegraph and Daily Mail types scoffing about this, amused at how the students clearly need more geography lessons. Aside from the fact little of the subject of geography deals with locating places on a map, they are also wrong in assuming we got the wrong place. 30 Millbank is widely known as Conservative HQ – they even say as much at the bottom of the home page of their website, and even the somewhat misleading footage of the ‘Siege of Millbank’ shows quite clearly the curved glass building with ’30 MILLBANK’ outside in big white letters. The conflicting stories that Baroness Warsi, chairperson of the Conservative Party, both was evacuated and in fact remained in the building, both further prove that the protesters were in the right place. In terms of collateral damage, the neigbouring Millbank Tower, which houses UN offices amongst other concerns, was largely left alone, and a Pizza Express in the immediate vicinity of 30 Millbank was left undamaged, further proving that this was no riot.
MYTH: This was pro-Labour
The only party I saw support for was the SWP, and not in large numbers. There were a few with Anarchist and Communist flags too, but the majority of people there were not supporting any political party, feeling let down by them all – the fact Labour introduced tuition fees and raised them to £3000 after promising not to go above £1000 is something many have not forgotten.
MYTH: Smashing a few windows writes off an entire group as criminals, whilst making cuts and fee increases that will directly target the poorest people, that will make a degree more of a symbol of wealth than knowledge, that will deny a full education to tens of thousands of intelligent young people, that will work in tandem with the slashing of the public sector to ensure unemployment rates skyrocket whilst welfare rates plummet…means you’re doing the right thing
I seriously hope I don’t need to explain this one. Unless you actually support the specific programme of government cuts, in which case, you’ve probably written off everyone at the protests anyway.
I don’t support the property damage to 30 Millbank, but I support the reasons behind it. I am against the spin the mainstream media have put on it, and against the way the actions have been written off without any sympathy for their cause – the way that even 50,000 students were very much focused on as students has led to dismissive treatment anyway, and there is a simple lack of recognition at how frustrated and angry many have become. 30 Millbank was a sign of this, and should not be written off.

Photos by Charlie Owen, used with her permission
http://rainylain.wordpress.com/

[Magda Hassan]

Revealed: Lib Dems planned before election to abandon tuition fees pledge

Exclusive: Documents show Nick Clegg's public claim was at odds with secret decision made by party in March

• Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent
  
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 12 November 2010 21.30 GMT In addition to the party's manifesto pledge, Nick Clegg signed an NUS pledge in April to vote against any increase in tuition fees. Photograph: NUS press office The Liberal Democrats were drawing up plans to abandon Nick Clegg's flagship policy to scrap university tuition fees two months before the general election, secret party documents reveal.
  As the Lib Dem leader faces a growing revolt after this week's violent protest against fee rises, internal documents show the party was drawing up proposals for coalition negotiations which contrasted sharply with Clegg's public pronouncements.
  A month before Clegg pledged in April to scrap the "dead weight of debt", a secret team of key Lib Dems made clear that, in the event of a hung parliament, the party would not waste political capital defending its manifesto pledge to abolish university tuition fees within six years.
  In a document marked "confidential" and dated 16 March, the head of the secret pre-election coalition negotiating team, Danny Alexander, wrote: "On tuition fees we should seek agreement on part time students and leave the rest. We will have clear yellow water with the other [parties] on raising the tuition fee cap, so let us not cause ourselves more headaches."
  The document is likely to fuel criticism among Lib Dem backbenchers and in the National Union of Students that the party courted the university vote in the full knowledge that its pledge would have to be abandoned as the party sought to achieve a foot in government. Within a month of the secret document, Clegg recorded a YouTube video for the annual NUS conference on 13 April in which he pledged to abolish fees within six years.
  "You've got people leaving university with this dead weight of debt, around £24,000, round their neck," the future deputy PM said in the video that was screened at the conference on 13 April.
  Clegg also joined all other Lib Dem MPs in signing an NUS pledge to "vote against any increase in fees". The leaked document showed that during the preparations for a hung parliament the Lib Dems still intended to fulfil that commitment.
  The Lib Dems, who are now under intense pressure after agreeing in government that tuition fees should be allowed to rise, said the document was designed to work out how to reach agreement with the Tories and Labour, who were "diametrically" opposed to them.
  As the party was isolated, the negotiators concentrated on trying to win ground where they could find consensus. Source say that, in government, they have succeeded in tackling the discrimination against part-time students identified in the secret document.
  The secret internal Lib Dem document is disclosed in a new book on the coalition negotiations by Rob Wilson, Conservative MP for Reading East. Wilson, who interviewed 60 key figures from the main parties for Five Days to Power, reveals that:
  • The Lib Dems made no attempt to stand by their two key economic election pledges – no deficit reduction this year and opposition to a VAT increase – in the coalition negotiations. A Clegg aide told Wilson: "The thing that changed minds was George Osborne saying that he had seen the figures and it was quite horrific in real life as opposed to spin life."
  • Alexander, appointed by Clegg last year to lead a secret four-strong coalition negotiating team, had thought the Lib Dems would only support a minority Tory government and not a coalition because of a "substantial gulf" between the two parties. In his confidential document on 16 March, Alexander wrote that it "would make it all but impossible for a coalition to be sustainable if it were formed, and extremely difficult to form without splitting the party."
  • Chris Huhne, a member of the secret team, wrote a dissenting report to Clegg insisting that the Lib Dems would have to form a full-blown coalition with the Tories and not prop up a minority government. He warned there was no precedent for a minority government succeeding delivering a fiscal consolidation, raising the prospect both parties would face a backlash. "Financial crises are catastrophic for the political parties that are blamed, and we should avoid this at all costs."
  • George Osborne, who had long feared the Tories would struggle to win an overall parliamentary majority, persuaded David Cameron to allow him to form the Tories' own secret coalition negotiating team two weeks before the election. The Tory leader demanded total secrecy and asked only to be given the barest details for fear that he would blurt it out "unplanned in an interview".
  • David Laws, a member of the secret Lib Dem negotiating team who briefly served in the cabinet, predicted on 24 February 2010 that the Tories would make a "very early offer of co-operation or coalition" in the event of a hung parliament. Laws told Wilson that he has a high regard for Osborne who tried to persuade him to join the Tories in 2006.
  • Gordon Brown was so keen to form a coalition with the Lib Dems that on Monday 10 May, the day before his resignation, he offered to form "a completely new sort of government" in which Clegg would run EU policy. The Lib Dems understood they would take half of the seats in cabinet.
  A Lib Dem spokesman said tonight: "These are selective extracts of documents which discussed a range of options ahead of any possible negotiations. As the Liberal Democrats made clear throughout the election and in negotiations, they had four key priorities which were set out on the front page of the manifesto. All of these priorities were agreed in the coalition document. The nature of the coalition agreement has meant we were able to set the foundations for a stable five-year government that will deliver many of the priorities the Liberal Democrats have long supported."
  Clegg tried to downgrade the pledge to abolish tuition fees at the 2009 conference, prompting a backlash from the left. A plan to abolish them over six years was included in the general election manifesto.
  
  

[Peter Presland]

Ironic little tit-bit for you. The next-door building to 30 Millbank is Thames House - UK Headquarters of "The Security Service" - MI5.

I wonder how many in the crowd were aware of that?

[Peter Presland]

The shrill witch-hunt demanding coverage of the Tabloid Press (Sun Mail, Express) is quite scary on this - with the Telegraph (and probably others) joining in. The BBC coverage I've heard takes a grossly hostile stance in its coverage - and especially when interviewing anyone remotely involved with organising the protests - the issue itself hardly warrants a mention. Cameron is calling for 'The full weight of the law.... exemplary punishment" - etc etc. The whole thing has something of a watershed feel to it with "The Authorities" clearly paranoid about what it portends.

And further to Magda's posts that provide a solid overview of what actually happened, here is another. It provides a balanced and thoughtful view of what it all means. I've signed the "Statement of Unity" petition and urge others to do likewise. From 'Open Democracy':

The significance of Millbank: British protest begins, Guy Aitchison

from OpenDemocracy - by Guy Aitchison
Two days on from Wednesday’s student demo and debate over the storming of Millbank, the police’s response, the legitimacy of confrontational forms of direct action and protest, and what this means for the Coalition’s programme of cuts, is still raging among many young people in Britain (see my Storify report if you are outside the UK and want to know what happened). It’s perhaps too early to predict with any certainty what the significance of the protest will be, but a number of points are worth making to those on all sides of the debate.
In discussing the events at Millbank, it is important to distinguish between “violence” and direct action. Conflating the invasion and occupation of Millbank, with the idiotic throwing of a fire extinguisher off the roof, confuses a legitimate tool of direct action and protest, with a mindless act of aggression, and is especially unhelpful coming from those, like Will Straw, who are sympathetic to the protesters. It is possible for a protest to be both unlawful and non-violent– traditionally, the police have deliberately confused the two, allowing them to respond in the same manner to acts of civil disobedience as to acts of violence.
Now, clearly there were acts of vandalism that accompanied the occupation of Millbank, but the instinct of the crowd was decisively against violence. When one protester picked up a rock, he was told to stop being an “idiot” and the throwing of the fire extinguisher was greeted by a chorus of booes and a chant of “stop throwing shit”, as this video shows. A 23 year old man from Cambridgeshire has apparently now been arrested over this incident. Good. If it is indeed him who hurled the projectile, he had no support for his actions amongst students at the time, and will have none now.

The occupation of 30 Millbank, on the other hand, certainly did have the support of the crowd. This wasn’t just a minority of hotheads, a rogue gang of “anarchists” and “Trots”, as Caroline Flint put it on Question Time yesterday. These were young, fresh-faced kids of the kind you’d find in any student bar. Disillusioned and enraged by a political elite that has chosen to make their generation pay for a crisis they didn't cause, they saw an opportunity passing Millbank to get involved in a spontaneous direct action against the poorly guarded Tory HQ. And they took it. The hundreds who occupied the building had the support of the thousands who cheered them on outside, and many more no doubt on TV. Many I spoke to, who got involved in the occupation, were 16 and 17 and had taken the day off school, risking the wrath of their teachers, to protest. As John Harris put it:

What happened on Wednesday afternoon was not some meaningless rent-a-mob flare-up, nor an easily-ignored howl of indignation from some of society's more privileged citizens. It was an early sign of people growing anxious and restless, and what a government pledged to such drastic plans should increasingly expect.

The other important point to recognise is that this wasn’t a purely self-interested protest about fees by a privileged few. The majority of those protesting won’t be affected by the hike in fees, and in any case students were keen to show solidarity with other victims of the coalition’s austerity agenda. The slogans and statement by those on the roof of Millbank make this clear. As Richard Seymour points out, it is patronising and untrue, to imply, as Polly Toynbee does, that only the middle class care about defending university education – many students come from working class families, live in poor quality accommodation and struggle to get by on low paid jobs. The benefit of accessible higher education to the individual and society is recognised across all social classes.
Encouragingly, a number of solidarity campaigns have been set up to provide advice and support to those who took part in the Millbank occupation. David Cameron has called for the “full weight of the law” to be brought to bear on those involved, raising the possibility of draconian punishments of the kind handed down to Gaza protesters who received up to two and a half year sentences, explicitly referred to by the judge as a deterrent. A Statement of Unity to “stand with the protesters, and anyone who is victimised as a result of the protest” has gathered over 3,000 signatures, including Naomi Klein, Billy Bragg and several dissident members of the NUS executive committee. A legal support group has also been setup with helpful advice for those who fear they may be scooped up by police – FIT Watch too have some useful tips. The shrill and distasteful witch hunt being ran by the Telegraph and the Sun, encouraging their readers to inform on the protesters depicted in their photos, has provoked an online campaign to thwart and frustrate them with members of the “Stop the hunt of the Millbank protesters” Facebook group encouraged to email creative responses and alternatives to the newspapers.
After months of rumbling discontent in anticipation of the pain that was about to be inflicted, the potential for determined and organised resistance to the cuts is clear. Emboldened by the scale and energy of Wednesday’s protest, trade unionists and other anti-cuts campaigners are already stepping up their activities. Campaigners behind the Vodafone block outs last month have announced they are planning "a day of mass civil disobedience against tax avoidance" on 4 December targeting other high street names, pointing out that Wednesday’s events showed a “real anger among a huge section of the population and this is not just the old faces and usual suspects”
No doubt, the line that the Millbank occupation was a “distraction” and a “failure” which has alienated public sympathy for the students’ cause will persist. It is, of course, the only acceptable line to take amongst those who wish to be taken seriously within the confines of official debate - and it is the line Aaron Porter has stuck to. The NUS president did a fantastic job of mobilising so many people, where his predecessors had been timid and ineffectual in opposing fees. But he should be careful not to sacrifice the unity of the student movement with blanket condemnation of those who took part in the Millbank occupation. He was right to haveendorsed, as Jess Worth reports, direct action against the cuts at the People and Planet conference last week , so it would be disappointing if, having been cowed by a right-wing attack campaign, the NUS chose to distance itself from the coming wave of occupations and sit ins planned by students on campuses across the UK. What is at stake is huge. They should put aside their fears of not being able to control the movement, and instead seek to maintain unity by encouraging the energy and anger out there, channelling it into creative, rather than destructive, ways.
It is a simplistic reading that sees Demolition 2010 as a failure, one which takes the media coverage at face value – activists concerned with galvanizing popular resistance to the cuts should recognise this. As Jess Worth puts it on the New Internationalist blog:

What would have been a 30-second news clip of just another march through London has become the top story in all major UKnews outlets and has picked up by the international press. Media commentators, whilst disapproving of the protest, are calling it a “wake-up call” for the government and a serious blow to the unity of the ruling coalition, while the bookies have slashed the odds of a dramatic political U-turn on student fees. A whole new generation has tasted the power and energy that comes with effective rebellion and we can expect to see resistance snowball.

And if you remain unconvinced, perhaps I can point you to a striking article by the Evening Standard’s City Editor – a weather-vain of establishment opinion if ever there was one. Echoing a prescient column by the Daily Telegraph’s political editor, Peter Oborne, he predicts that we can “Expect more rage if the rich and poor divide gets bigger”

The temperature is rising all the time. Already, we've had strikes from the Tube drivers and firefighters, and now students are taking to the streets. More groups are likely to follow suit.

“We have”, he says, “been warned”.

[Peter Lemkin]

While I don't like the violence and there may well have been some agents provocateurs leading some of it, the anger was real and will grow...as well it should! Too bad they didn't do the same with the MI5 building next door...although that certainly would have been met with brutal force. I can only hope that peaceful but forceful civil disobedience and protests grow and grow and spread - in the UK and around the World - and [oh PLEASE] to my land of America!.....it is our only hope...the last hope and the time is short...the anger is growing and the outrage just!

[Magda Hassan]

I personally don't think his political days are going to last till then but if you are in the area it may be a good chance to catch up with some others for a good day to be had by all.

No tuition fees! No to Workfare!
The Lucy Young and the Scott Trust, in association with Unlock Democracy, will host Nick Clegg at the Hugo Young Lecture on the 23rd November.
The event has been advertised on the basis that it will be “an excellent chance for members to quiz the Deputy Prime Minister”.
Right to Work will be there to make sure Nick Clegg can hear loud and clear what we think of him.
The Con-Dems are launching an onslaught of cuts and privatisation and a vicious ideological attack on our welfare state.
It is vital that wherever the Tories and their Lib-Dem lapdogs go, they are hounded and forced to face up to the widespread rage at their blanket attack on the working class movement.
Yesterday Iain Duncan Smith was held back for an hour after speaking in Camden by a protest of local residents, Right to Work and London Campaign Against Poverty campaigners, enraged at the Con-Dems’ attempts to make the unemployed work for free.
Come along to the protest against Clegg and join the fightback!

[Magda Hassan]

A very positive piece from the British MSM about the students. Paul O'Grady also was very supportive of the students and their cause when he introduced his show this week. The one with Julie Walters.

Stick-wielding Leftie yobs? Not the lovely boys I met at the pub


Last updated at 12:56 PM on 14th November 2010

Are our students taught how to demonstrate properly? Do they understand what a riot is? Do they know the historical context of this British tradition?
I do hope so – and, indeed, if they are ALL doing media studies they will find that every cliche in the book has been mindlessly lobbed at them.
What happened on Wednesday has been *spoken of breathlessly as both the beginning of the revolution and the collapse of Western civilisation.

The cost of education: The demonstration was not only about fees for posh kids, it was about a future in which we know only the price of education, not its value

All rather thrilling: fire and broken glass and smirking boy-band faces uncovered because they hadn’t really planned this opportunistic rampage. Pull the camera back *further and one sees lots of people unsure but watching a few others do the bad stuff.
Having failed to predict a riot, we now have a lot of blather about the full force of the law being brought down on these ‘seasoned anarchists’. This from Bullingdon boys who used to leave huge tips because of the damage they caused.
The full force of the law did not look that impressive on the day and is, indeed, itself subject to cuts. Perhaps the police are like the rest of us and have bought the myth that all students are middle-class and the middle class don’t do this.
Perhaps they believe we have been so groomed for austerity that we will go quietly. Perhaps they did actually learn a *lesson from the G20 protests when a man died after being struck by an officer.
Certainly, since the Tory coup there has been fuzzy talk of unrest. Why is it a shock it should come from students? They are mobile and able to organise as a group unlike, say, defenders of council housing or the ‘workshy’. They could wait until the next Election to show their dismay, but in the meantime they don’t have a lot to lose.
Financial independence, decent housing and employment are being taken away from all but the very privileged. Tertiary education is no longer a right but a purchase. As Labour intro*duced tuition fees and would also have increased them, this leaves little opposition to coalesce around.

Outrage: Financial independence, decent housing and employment are being taken away from all but the very privileged

As I like a drink with ‘stick-wielding Leftie yobs’, I found myself with some students on their way home. These nice boys were mostly taking pictures of themselves and their placards in the pub. They were as high as kites – as you can be when you think you have achieved something but don’t know what it is.
A peaceful demo is a long, slow trudge and these boys were ambivalent but excited about the violence. One told me he had been chanting ‘Idiots’ at those shoving their way into Millbank, and then found himself inside ‘going for it’.
They all felt deeply betrayed by Nick Clegg even though they had not voted for him. They were all concerned about whether they would be on the telly. They are not entirely stupid.
If this protest had not erupted it would not be front-page news and all sides know this, really. Protest is a game of push and shove with the media, as well as the police and the politicians.
The Right are barking on about organised activists and the NUS. Look at the real story. At least ten of those arrested were under 18. Lots of the kids who swelled the numbers were bunking off from the sixth form and have not even got to university.
The removal of the Education Maintenance Allowance and cuts to Further Education actually will do real damage to the life chances of those from poorer families. These are your actual apprentices.
The demonstration was not only about fees for posh kids. It was about a future in which we know only the price of education, not its value. And the protest was made by those who know that education remains the key motor of their own social mobility.
There will be more protests because neither Clegg nor Cameron has the mandate needed to make such huge changes. Their support is tentative. Those in power, who have had the very best start, look ever more distant from those who are asked to bear the brunt of this crisis.
When the demonstrators got near Millbank and the distance closed, the result was anger. Mob violence is neither pretty nor planned: a smash and grab at power. But I ask you to look, properly look, at the faces of some of these 50,000 kids. Do I see a mob infiltrated by evil?
No. I see our children.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/articl...t-pub.html

[David Guyatt]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11745570

12 November 2010 Last updated at 16:46

Student protests: Downing Street condemns lecturers


A demonstrator aims a kick at a window in Tory Party HQ

Downing Street has criticised "irresponsible" lecturers in London who praised protesters who stormed the building which houses Conservative HQ.

Windows were smashed and police officers were among those hurt when a minority of protesters turned violent.

Lecturers at Goldsmiths criticised unions for distancing themselves from the occupation of Millbank Tower.

They said the "real violence" was the cuts. However Goldsmiths "completely disassociates" itself from the remarks.

Meanwhile the Metropolitan Police have confirmed that 54 people have now been arrested over the demonstration, of which "the majority" described themselves as "students or a variation thereof". The oldest is in their early thirties and 10 were under 18.

A 23-year-old man suspected of throwing a fire extinguisher at police from the roof of the building has been arrested in Cambridgeshire.

The National Union of Students, which organised the march, has condemned the violence as "shameful, dangerous and counterproductive" and the UCU lecturers' union said it was the "actions of a mindless and totally unrepresentative minority".

But a statement from the president of the lecturers' union at Goldsmiths, part of the University of London, congratulated staff and students "on the magnificent anti-cuts demonstration" adding: "We also wish to condemn and distance ourselves from the divisive and, in our view, counterproductive statements issued by the UCU and NUS leadership concerning the occupation of the Conservative Party HQ.

"The real violence in this situation relates not to a smashed window but to the destructive impact of the cuts and privatisation that will follow if tuition fees are increased and if massive reductions in higher education funding are implemented."

Those remarks were criticised by Conservative peer Lord Tebbit, who said: "I can imagine what they would say were a group from the TaxPayers' Alliance to turn up at their homes and vandalise them in protest at the way these lecturers are leeching the taxpayer and failing to discipline their students."

'Frankly irresponsible'
And a Downing Street spokesman said: ''Praising violence over peaceful protest is frankly irresponsible.''

Authorities at Goldsmiths also distanced themselves from the comments.

"This statement in no way reflects the views of Goldsmiths, University of London. We completely disassociate ourselves from what has been reported.

"Our position echoes that of the University and College Union and of the National Union of Students in that it was deeply saddening to see a peaceful protest tarnished by utterly unacceptable behaviour."


Windows were smashed and fires were lit at the Conservative headquarters in Westminster
The Conservative MP Greg Hands called on Labour deputy Harriet Harman to discipline some Labour MPs, after a Daily Mail article claimed they had "cheered on student vandals".

But the MPs in question rejected suggestions their comments on the micro-blogging site Twitter amounted to encouraging the violence.

Tom Blenkinsop, who quoted Nick Clegg as having warned of "riots" if extreme cuts were introduced, wrote: "Daily Mail say I was gleeful over the student riots. I wasn't. Am I surprised that Lab MPs are being attacked for defending the NUS? Not at all." He had also "tweeted": "Anyone involved in the violence should realise that by attacking police you are attacking allies in the public sector."

The Metropolitan Police has begun an inquiry into the handling of the student march. Those arrested - mostly for criminal damage and aggravated trespass - have been released on police bail until February.

The violence overshadowed the largely peaceful protests against the plan to lift the annual cap on university tuition fees in England from the current £3,290, to up to £9,000 a year for some institutions. They were also protesting against plans to cut higher education funding and teaching grants.

About 2,000 split from the main march to gather outside 30 Millbank, a building which includes the offices of the Conservative headquarters, where windows were smashed, fires lit and missiles thrown at police.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has said the police should have better prepared and called Wednesday's events "an embarrassment".

Policing minister Nick Herbert said police had "struck the wrong balance" when preparing for the protests.

About 225 officers had originally been deployed to police the march, the minister said, although a further 225 were called in as the situation developed.

Hundreds of coachloads of students and lecturers travelled to London from across England, Wales and Scotland for the demonstration in Whitehall.

Under the coalition's plans, 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.

But the NUS and other opponents say the prospect of such large debts will deter young people from poorer backgrounds from going to university.

I loved the little bit of spleen from Thatchler's ghoul:

Those remarks were criticised by Conservative peer Lord Tebbit, who said: "I can imagine what they would say were a group from the TaxPayers' Alliance to turn up at their homes and vandalise them in protest at the way these lecturers are leeching the taxpayer and failing to discipline their students."

Tebbit's talk of "leeching taxpayers" reveals a remarkable blind-spot on his part. Members of the House of Lords claim £300 a day for attending the House or Committee sittings.

This sum is paid by taxpayers and is, ahem, tax free.

Nice one Norm.

[Magda Hassan]

Good on the lecturers. The violence is done by the state. People merely react to it.

Paul O'Grady on his show started to talk about the person who threw the fire extinguisher only to then say it shouldn't have been wastefully thrown from the building but should have been used as a battering ram :o