Updated on
Summary
Thousands of British students protested on Wednesday against the government's plans to triple university tuition fees, and there were sporadic scuffles with police, two weeks after a similar demonstration sparked a small riot. The Metropolitan Police said two officers were injured in London, including one with a broken arm. Fifteen protesters were arrested. College and university students across the country held marches and sit-ins to oppose the decision to increase university fees to 9,000 pounds ($14,000) a year, a key plank in the government's deficit-cutting austerity measures. In central London, the university students and younger pupils in school uniforms marched from Trafalgar Square toward the Houses of Parliament, chanting no ifs, no buts, no education cuts. Some climbed on top of bus shelters, while several attacked a parked police van, smashing the windows and scrawling graffiti. Lines of police guarded the headquarters near Parliament of junior government partner, the Liberal Democrats. The Lib Dems have drawn particular anger because the party campaigned on a promise to abolish tuition fees, then abandoned it once in power. The party leader, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, said Wednesday I massively regret finding myself in (the) situation of not being able to keep this promise. There was a heavy police presence, with hundreds of uniformed officers on duty. Students complained about confrontational tactics. There were demonstrations several thousand strong in university towns and cities across the country, including Bristol, Liverpool, Sheffield and Leeds.In Cambridge, hundreds of students scaled the fence outside Senate House, the building used for graduation ceremonies, and marched into the grounds of the 700-year-old King's College shouting and waving placards. Two people were arrested for obstructing police. An 18-year-old British student pleaded guilty Wednesday to throwing a fire extinguisher off the roof of the high-rise building during the protest in London two weeks ago. It narrowly missed police officers standing below.
