16
London-News
December 2013
CopsOffCampus student protest
Thousands of students from across the UK meet in central
London for a national day of protest, after police made 41
arrests during a student
demonstration in December.
Students from universities
in London and further afield
gathered outside the
University of London Union
(ULU) on Wednesday
afternoon, holding placards,
chanting and dancing to a
samba band.
An estimated 2,000 to 3,000
students joined the protest,
which comes three years
after the 2010 mass student
demos against tuition fee
rises and what was deemed
the "privatisation" of
universities.
At around 3pm, a group of
students broke through gates
to the grounds of Senate
House. They were not
stopped by security staff,
and no police officers were
visible at the scene.
The protest then appeared to
divide, with some students
walking down to the Strand.
A group also went past the
Royal Courts of Justice and
to Parliament Square, where
police officers and vans
were present. A group of
students started to attack a police van but there appeared to be
no retaliation from police at that time.
A Met Police spokesman said officers were monitoring the
protesters' march through central London.
He added: "No arrests have been made at this stage. We will
always look to facilitate peaceful protest. What we must
balance is the rights of people to protest with the public's
right to go about their daily business.
"We have had an appropriate policing operation in place
throughout the course of this
afternoon, including predeploying officers at a number
of central London locations."
Ban on occupations
The#CopsOffCampus protest
was called in reaction to
heavy-handed police handling
of an occupation protest at
Senate House on Wednesday 4
December, after which 41
arrests were made. Only one
person was charged - the rest
of those arrested were released
on bail - and further protests on
5 and 6 December followed.
However the University of
London was granted an
injunction order against any
occupation. It reads:"Anyone
who occupies any of these
buildings or spaces for the
purposes of carrying out a
protest before June 2014 will
commit the criminal offence of
contempt of court."
#CopsOffCampus was
supported by the national
campaign against fees and cuts,
and various student unions, but
no one organisation claimed
responsibility for its
organisation. In the crowd,
placards represented a variety of causes, including justice for
Mark Duggan (the man whose shooting in London triggered a
wave of rioting), anti-government cuts and "no to police
brutality".
'The beginning of a mass anti-privatisation movement'
Michael Chessum, ULU president and national organisation
against fees and cuts organiser, toldChannel 4 News the