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 Post subject: student riots
PostPosted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 9:35 pm 
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opinions on this one, folks? been watching the live coverage all evening on News 24.

Much as I understand why students may be angry at the increase of tuition fees, I am so pissed off over their actions. And no, it's not the so-called "small minority" tonight either (favourite excuse). The marchers deliberately strayed off the prescribed route and now it appears much of central london is in chaos. They've even started attacking shops. Why the hell would you do that??? Surely there can be no excuse for smashing cars, trashing other people's property, attacking the Prince of Wales' vehicle, smashing windows etc etc and goading the police by deliberately throwing dangerous objects like stones, bricks, snooker balls etc at them...it just feels so bloody wrong, as someone pointed out on the news earlier peaceful protests achieve a lot more than this mindless violence.

This reflects very very badly indeed on students as a whole and I am feeling that they are going to lose a lot of public sympathy. Yet again they promised a peaceful protest. However, yet again violence has ensued, at a high level. Yes, the tuition fees issue is a hot topic and bound to upset some people. Acting like mindless pigheaded thugs is no answer. And do we really want the kind of people who trash what is not theirs for no justified reason when they don't get their way in our Universities anyway?????

Bloody students eh? :roll: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

Rant over :wink:

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 9:48 pm 
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OU fees don't come in at £9K a year - the greatest thing old Labour kicked off - and the preserve of middle aged twats like me...

Where's Paul Calf when you need 'im?


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 11:25 pm 
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I have heard another side to the so called riots. How the police were blocking them in crushing and goading them until they cracked. Don't believe all you are told - it is of great benefit to this government to discredit the students. Things get exaggerated and distorted.

The OU has had massive cuts by the way and they are not sure how they are going to survive.

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 11:44 pm 
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Just watching Newsnight and seeing students climbing up the sides of buildings attempting to smash the windows in - the violent element that always turns out to these things are out in force today.



I was caught up in the outskirts of the Poll Tax riots years ago, day out in London with my sisters and on a London Transport bus that found itself in among the violent element - very very unpleasant.

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:59 am 
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I don't believe all that has been reported at all,why did the police charge a crowd they had already fenced in with horses?fuckin crazy that is,it was like a mini bloody Peterloo or the steel and miners strikes all over again and it could have been a hell of a lot worse we could be looking at deaths not just injuries.......i am not saying the violence is right but in the middle of the protesters there were women and children,innocent tourists and christmas shoppers too.....this is England not fuckin Chile or Argentina in the old days.......i support the students totally in their right to protest against these fees,its bullshit,i watched all the coverage tonight on the BBC,whom i trust more than most for impartiality,but it just didn't feel right to me at all.......i have been to strikes and pickets with my Dad and am more than aware of how the police.....especially the Met.......can goad a crowd then manipulate the outcome to their own advantage and for their own ends,they are experts at it.
Reading between the lines of all the coverage it looks like the previously agreed route of the march was suddenly halted by the police and they fenced them in then some of the protesters,not all it has to be said,weren't havin it and decided to break out.........what the fuck is the point in having an agreed route for the march if they go changing it at the last minute?The police aren't that stupid that was deliberate,on the day of the vote????..........they kept the crowd in one area for 6 hours or more that is wrong,this is supposed to be a democracy isn't it? :eh? The sad thing is they will use the violence to diminish a very very strong and powerful argument into"Oh its just a load of thugs kicking off"sketch.........if they were smart they would be non violent and protest in a civil and orderly way,the protest would take longer but would have far more powerful effect,violence ALWAYS divides and never unites people and blurs the argument.........i think that if it was peaceful the whole country would back them but the majority of folks won't support them and will just turn away from the argument and look at the blood.........i think the government are totally wrong,the changes have been really hastily put together by the usual fuck witted politician mentality...........i've got three kids i would like them to think about learning not just earning.........most folks won't have the money to put one kid through let alone two or three.......and what do we have at the end of it all say in five/ten years if our young can't afford to be educated?A thick as fuck country that can easily be ruled and sedated.I could weep.........after all the hard fought ground that was won to have equal rights for everyone to seek higher education if they wish that took centuries in a way......its taken away from us by bastards like Cameron and Clegg........so very very sad.......i think the students are very admirable and if they are the next and future generations then lets hope they rule the country instead of the arseholes who are running it now we should support them i believe..........it is the right thing to do.

One last thing............why is it ok to bail out Ireland with billions,bail out the banks with billions...............and not help our future generations with the empowerment of their minds so they can live better lives on an equal basis wherever you are from without excluding the people with modest incomes right down to the very poorest in our nation???????THAT is fucked up thinking......nuff said.

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 7:27 am 
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And at work the main topic was that students whose family live in Wales or Scotland don't have to pay these fees if they come to Uni in England.

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 7:59 am 
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I couldn't believe it when I watched the news- it was like some futuristic uprising with people going crazy, cavalcades of mounted police whirling round....I was nearly sick watching a piceman getting trampled, the whole thing was just out of control ffs.
My belief is that it's not necessarily the students who are the ones who are causing the major incidents, more likely to be extremist knobs jumping on the latest bandwagon and taking the opportunity to stir up a peaceful protest into mayhem.


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PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 10:00 am 
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I'm not going to hit the "Quote" button for Richard's comments, but I couldn't agree more. My friends' kids were on the demo, being kettled by the police, 16 year old girls fighting for their futures. I'm so fucking proud of them for not going along with the Disney/Nintendo bullshit pumped in their faces all day long – the young have a right to be radical. They have a right to expect better for themselves.
And I agree about the police violence. I've been charged by a policeman on a horse, on the poll tax demo, and it's not proportionate. These animals are over six foot high and used as a weapon. It's disgusting that they were used against children.
Do you know what I think the "shame" is about it? That we let our kids do something that we should be doing ourselves. We should ALL be telling them where to stick their spending review – at my work 500 people are to lose their jobs before the end of March, and 500 more the next financial year. That's a quarter of the council workforce – people who pick up our rubbish, look after our kids, care for our elderly. These shower do not give a shit about them or the rest of us – they're too busy letting the bankers keep their bonuses and covering up for their friends' tax evasion.
I come from quite a lefty tradition – our family collected for trade unionists, had campaigners stay in our home and demonstrated about things we didn't agree with. And then I got a bit older and had a family and my demonstrating days grew less and less. But I'm boiling about all this stuff, I feel as angry as I did when I was a teenager. We should not accept this kind of fucked up world for our kids and, instead of worrying about whether Charlie boy's trip to the theatre was ruined, get off our arses and do something about it.
I'm going to have a lie down... x


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PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 10:33 am 
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The behaviour of the police is the thing that encourages violence on protests. To fence people in for hours on end in the freezing cold without water, food or toilets is ridiculous. That sort of 'crowd control' is a deliberate tactic to incite a violent reaction, or to put people off going to demos in the first place.

These days I wouldn't go on a protest because I don't wan't to be stuck in a crowd for 10-12 hours and I don't want to be hit over the head by the police.

Also, couldn't believe Nick Clegg's comments that the students were living in 'a dream world'! Cheeky bastard. I've never seen such a swift change of policy.

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 11:13 am 
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most of the fuckers change their minds once in power but Cleggs very public pledge,and it was just that not just a light promise,not to up student fees has made him look a total and utter lying bastard and that his words aren't worth the paper they're written on.........he is taking most of the flak though for what is after all a Tory policy and it is driven by Cameron........who is the real bastard..........i might write to my MP



oh







maybe not









He's Nick fucking Clegg........... :shock:

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 11:34 am 
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RP wrote:
Also, couldn't believe Nick Clegg's comments that the students were living in 'a dream world'! Cheeky bastard. I've never seen such a swift change of policy.


Oooooh. I so hate him! Why shouldn't they 'dream' about a life without £30k worth of debt by the time they're 21? After all, these kids aren't fantasists. They're not asking for the same kind of educational priviledge that the bunch of middle aged men in Parliament who voted to raise tuition fees enjoyed when they were young. Clegg is the son of a chairman of a bank, the grandson of a Russian aristocrat and private school and Cambridge educated. He's a millionaire, heading up a cabinet collectively worth £50m and he has the fucking cheek to tell kids that they're living in a dream world if they don't want a lifetime of debt. I'm soooo glad I live down here – if I were in Sheffield, I'm afraid it might push me over the edge! x


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PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:00 pm 
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:47 pm 
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as a recently no longer student- i can say i dont look forward to paying back to 30k- though in australia it comes out of our taxes- im not sure if thats the case in the uk or not?

either way- any student these days would more than be aware of the power of the peaceful protest- somethings happened because otherwise I couldnt see anything like that happening without someone being provoked-

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:34 pm 
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I had a chat with a friend who was there and she said that there were a fair few people at the protest who were clearly not students who were just there for a fight. Fair enough to lend your support but it's annoying when a message gets diluted because of violence.

That said, I think both the police and the politicians are fuelling the fire.

Also why is it that the PM feels the need to comment on the smashing of Prince Charles's car window? Driving through a mass protest, what did he think would happen?

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:35 pm 
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dj89 wrote:
either way- any student these days would more than be aware of the power of the peaceful protest- somethings happened because otherwise I couldnt see anything like that happening without someone being provoked-


Peaceful protest is very very powerful. I don't think it's always in the interest of the government to allow protests to remain peaceful. It seems like very little is taught in schools about Martin Luther King and Ghandi because, let's not forget, they won.

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