Protest

We went to the big anti-fees/cuts protest in central London yesterday. It was a really nice day, with the sun shining giving us a nice view of the buildings as we stood on Whitehall. The protest was very good-natured, with lots of students chanting the usual stuff and plenty of staff members around as well. The Student Union estimates 50,000, which looked about right. There clearly weren't enough police, and self-critical comments appeared in the newspapers today. However, we were speculating that they may have deliberately under-staffed the protest in an implicit protest of their own to the government, which is cutting back police numbers severely.

At the end of the march, a group of students occupied the forecourt of the Conservative Party building, eventually smashing some front windows and entering the building. The pictures look dramatic, and now we will have the usual 'ratbag' student complaints. But still, you have to wonder if it won't have a beneficial impact in the end, revealing an anger towards the government that hasn't been in evidence at all so far. I suspect that this protest will mark the beginning of public opposition to the coalition government, and come to define the tone of that opposition, especially felt by the middle class which has benefitted from state funding in many ways, including higher education. Students usually lead the way ideologically, even if they're politically weak, so I think we can expect more from this point forward. The best coverage is, of course, in Le Monde