Second wave of student protests hits London

spot the tiny rogue minority

Lenny calls it the biggest student rebellion since 1968:

Several fires burn on the tarmac, someone gives an impromptu speech from atop a concrete wall, and a chant goes up: “Let us out! Let us out! Let us out!”. I am in the middle of Britain’s student revolt, and I am amazed by the high spirits of thousands of kettled children and teenagers. For my part, I can only think how cold it is. Things keep “kicking off” on the frontlines between police and protesters. Further up Whitehall, a huge crowd of kids has gathered outside the kettle. I’m told the younger kids are walking around telling the police to go fuck themselves. They’re so angry, more than I can explain, about being kettled in. When asked, the sheer righteous fury they express is impressive. The slogans that occasionally start up resonate throughout the wide avenue – “they say cutback, we say fightback!”, “Tory Tory Tory, out out out!”, and, yes, “one solution, revolution!”. The police apparently claim they’ve made toilets available to us. They have not. There are two cubicles outside the kettle, which may be toilets but we can’t access them. We have no water or food, and we are kept warm only by the fires. But still, people sing, dance, do the hokey kokey (yeah), and chant. This resilience is fuelled by white hot anger.

Nick Clegg showing his pledge not to raise student fees

According to the Dutch news, which lead with it in the eight o’clock bulletin, the students were actually trying to storm parliament. But much more happened today, as the demo list at the Anticuts website and the rolling coverage from the Socialist Worker make clear. Protest went on throughout the UK, including in Scotland, which is not affected by the proposed cuts itself. The students are angry, as are their younger brothers and sisters still in secondary schools, not to mention their parents, to be faced by massive fee increases needed to pay for the bankers’ crisis. and a lot of that anger is aimed at the LibDems, who had promised not to do so before the election. As Roobin puts it:

Election promises aren’t binding? I guess legally they’re not, but if politicians don’t have to honour what they say during the 6-4 week period every 4-5 years when they are obliged to seek popular approval why should the public respect the results of general elections, or any elections? What is left of any democratic notion in government?

In general, public disappointment with the LibDems is high, as is also seen in the results of a few recent local elections that saw their vote be hammered. The end result of the ConDem government just might be the complete destruction of the LibDems as a valid political party — public anger is high already even though most of the government’s plans so far have just been plans, not yet reality.