Be Excellent To Each Other

BBC reporting the vote as 323 in favour of the raising fees and 302 against.

Claerly, picking fights with the police and smashing buildings up is the way to get your point across. Student protesters can now get fucked. Hope they get kettled for 3 days.

Directed by police into a kettle, detained for hours, charged on horseback…yes, I think the usual Met strategy is working just fine…

They didn't stick to the route previously agreed, then turned ugly.

I'm in no way condoning the police at all, but any scintilla of sympathy I had for them evaporated once they chose to start behaving like thugs.

The EDF demos go off with fewer problems, even when UAF stage counter protests.

Actually, the police directed them into Parliament Square in the first place, and then sent them down to the Victoria area where they were kettled.

Mmmm... Kettle Chips.

My understanding was (from the news at about 3pm) that the police were imploring them to get back on the route.

Anyways, it is still no excuse to smash stuff up. That doesn't garner any respect for their cause at all.

As far as I heard (from watching all day) - they were moved to Parliament Square, and then directed down to the area where they were kettled (there was a suggestion that the Police decided they didn't want to risk them walking past a couple of branches of HSBC and Barclays - in retrospect, that idea was probably a bad one). Once the police charged the crowd, I was completely on their side, I'm afraid…

If you're going to start lobbing stuff at the police, it is only going to ever end one way, though. And nobody, ever, just happens to have a flare upon them. It is clear that people turned up, expecting a ruck, got one, and, no doubt, will complain about it afterwards. It's like poking a really, really, pissed off bear with a stick, then getting upset about it when it mauls you.

EDIT: BBC suggests they went into Parliament square of their own accord and have since started smashing up Oxford Street and have snooker balls, paintballs, flares and sticks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11959950

Reading that makes me think "fuck them", even more.

Hmm, amazing, an entire BBC report that doesn't mention the police charging them on mounted horses.

EDIT: ah, sorry, the rather passive: "Protesters say the police tried to move their line forward and mounted police charged the crowd." Except of course, it was broadcast live and there's no 'protesters say' about it at all…

It was hardly a charge, if that was the one about 4pm. "trotted the horses to split the crowd and block others" is more like it.

But anyways. I'll leave you to it.

It wasn't Orgreave, but for the 14-16 year olds in that crowd, you could see the terror in them as they ran away screaming.

As pointed out by someone last time, when mounted police are charging at kids, you really do wonder what went wrong with the country.

TBH I dont think student loans are a big deal and its all a big piss over nothing.

I doubt that the violence was orchestrated by students and the protests may have instead been hijacked by others for troublemaking means but those scenes of protestors attacking a police officer who got seperated from the rest are disgusting and have made me really angry. Thank god that some of the protestors stepped in and tried to protect the officer. I accept that in this instance I am going to be biased but jesus christ...

gotta love this image



also, no excuses for spraypainting the statue of Churchill tbh. Smash windows if you like but draw a line somewhere, cunts.

Unacceptable
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... nwall.html

Man, I hope someone pisses of the Reenactors, and they decide to protest. Those police shield walls are terrible! The reenactors would kick their collective asses.

Quote from David Cameron on a trip to China recently:



As John Denham pointed out, that means British students are paying to keep the costs for foreign students down.

Other way round: They've put a cap on overseas students, because if they didn't, they know that universities would basically shrug and tell the home students to piss off, because there are more rich foreign families out there willing to pay through the nose for their kids to get an education here than there are people who can afford to live with that kind of debt here.

This is just the start.

Students tend to be 16-18 protesting.


Wait till you get someone like me who is as big as one of those thugs armed with batons and shields (ie police) protesting. Im 17 st and built like like a brick shithouse.


And I will next year I'm waiting for it to get warmer as it is sub zero at present.

In fact, a lot of people should start protesting, especially when the p45's start arriving though the letterbox. I remember 1990 with the poll tax riots, and this is not so much like history repeating as the whole country rejecting, there is no way 300 mp's can withstand this kiind of hatred.

I swear that V for Vendetta film is coming so true.

Malica - youve led a very sheltered life like Cavey, you should let someone like me show you real life.

Na, they'd all be in the pub. Except for the hardcores, who'd just sit freezing in a ditch and refuse to leave as the police are wearing inauthentic fabrics or something.

I like the idea that you're willing to take on the police in a riot situation but not willing to be cold while doing it.

Buy a jumper.

Not taking the piss but how can you remember the protests is 1990 when you are only 17. Do you mean you have seen the reports from then?

I'm not sure that the protesters understand that destruction of property and injuring policemen is massively counterproductive. It takes away sympathy (and money) from their cause. Mind, I'm also not convinced that the main thrust of the destruction is the students, but rather the usual suspects that will show up at any demo. I believe they consider themselves Anarchists.

You don't think leaving Uni in £40k of debt instead of £15k of debt is a big deal?

Oh, do grow up.



You would be very, very surprised. I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Mali? Mali?

Oh fuck, he's dead.

17st, rather than 17 years.

doh, i just presumed he was 17, i was reading on my phone

17st is not big I am that size...

I think that was a fair presumption

Me too.

Me too

It is compared to a 16 year old with emo hair and skinny fit jeans, who's arms are so weak they have to tuck their elbows in to send a BBM

I think it's been medically established, that 17st is heavy and somewhat overweight.

Some of them did that. SOME OF THEM. Anyone who decides to dismiss a whole protest movement, and their goals, because of the actions of a minority is, frankly, brainless and childish and doesn't deserve to participate in a democracy, either via franshise or even debate.

Yes, the vandalism was not on, but fuck off anyone who think sthat means the students don't have a point. And remember they're not even doing this for their own benefit, most of them, as current university students won't be affected.



A horse trotting or cantering at you is fucking terrifying, Mali, if it's not stopping. They weigh as much as a car. A car driving over you slowly will still bloody hurt. It's also difficult to get out of the way when you're trapped in a crowd. there were a number of reports of injuries from the last student protesdt where they cantered horses at the crowd. You're also going to create a stampede as preople try to get out of teh way, and we all nkow where pushing in a crowd where there isn't room to move leads to, don't we?

But anyway, you and I know that your posts on this are 95% trolling, but at least it keeps the conversation going. We need to get a real Daily Mail reading Tory on here.


And besides, it was all worth it for that photo of Horseface's horror at unrestrained proles being nearby.

What's a BBM?

Yay! This forum has been missing an out and out keyboard warrior!

Your mum showed me real life.

Sadly, however, that's how it's going to be taken by a lot of people. One guy messing with the Cenotaph or spray painting rude words on to Nelson's Column is a better front page photo then a bunch of people waving placards and spouting.



Plus horses are tall, and loud, and are barely controlled balls of insanity, just waiting for the chance to bite and kick everyone within reach. I don't like horses. They scare me.

Aye. And that's how its going to be remembered.



Which is, of course, the point. Though given the mounted police swords like Peterloo is probably a bad idea.

Still, the protesters should have formed squares.

I don't think that the students don't have a point, think that the students are going to be associated and tarnished by association with the company they keep. Especially given the NUS have apparently done two thirds of four fifths of fuck all to disown such actions. I think that yes, you are right that it was 'some' but given the previous demonstrations, I think everyone there knew what was going to happen and, having made the decision to still attend have to deal with it. I find it very interesting, thought that the rallies of the Right can pass off relatively peacefully, but whenever the Left are involved, stuff gets broken.



I'm quite aware of the psychological impact of horses. Yes, a potential for problems, but as a measure to control and move a crowd, it's a pretty good one. Also, cantering is pretty fucking quick, one away from a gallop, and cantering on tarmac is dangerous for horse and rider as the hooves slip, I think.

I think it's partly to do with the size of the rallies. People get a lot braver when numbers are sufficient to grant a degree of anonymity.

That would have left them vulnerable to the cannon being formed up in St James park! And there aren't even any reverse slops nearby for them to use.

Good point. It was an idea half formed in MaliBrain

Well, you and they and I disagree there, and they have a right to protest about future students havnig their debt tripled, so that the poorer who do even manage to find a decent paid job will not then be able to afford a house, whereas the well off continue to do well.



That's the fault of the morons reading the Daily Mail, not the students.



Bollocks. By that reasoning no one should ever protest, as someone will always kick off at any protest.



Uh, really? And that was just the first result on a quick Google. If you're going to troll, at least do basic research first so it looks like you're being sincere.

Also, the Right don't tend to need to protest as much, as they're usually in charge.



Only if you don't care about people getting injured. Which is not, last time I checked, the approach that the police in a civilised society should be taking, particularly when there are 14 year old girls in the crowd.


Yeah, I know. Mrs K is a horse-ridery sort. Still that's what they were doing at the last protest.

Again, I don't know why I'm arguing with you.

You saw none of this type of activity at the stop the war protests though, and they were significantly larger than this.

Yeah that's why I said partly, the cause is also part of it. I would hope not to see violence at a pacifist rally.

That'd be frickin' awesome, mind.

I'd be interested in how the polling is looking.
I don't think students are the most favoured sector in society - I can imagine people watching the protests on their TVs and thinking that they'd rather like to have the time to have a day out in London but have to work instead.

Of course, young people are the least likely cohort to vote, which is probably why we're paying through the nose to give old folks free bus passes and raising tuition fees.

Has there ever been a pro-war demonstration? As in "Bomb the fuckers!"

I have a feeling that Napoleon tried to organise a few to stir up encouragement for a campaign against the English, using the Bayeaux tapestry, but it cold have been a crazy dream.