Thousands of students and activists once again made their
way to Parliament Square yesterday to show their continued anger at the cost of
Higher Education tuition in England and Wales.
This action was seen by the organisers, the National
Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC), as the largest showing on the capital's
streets since 2010's initial marches against the hiking of fees to £9,000.
However, the marchers were split by many forces, including the lure of those
who broke down fences intended to keep protesters off the grass, and staged a
fairly unorganised occupation. By the time 3pm came, and the speeches were in
full swing, only two or three thousand of the estimated ten who began at UCLU
remained.
The question of numbers and the ease at which different
groups broke off was prevalent throughout the day. One possible reason for both
of these was the decision by the National Union of Students (NUS) to pull their
support for the protest due to what they called an "unacceptable level of
risk".
The NUS will surely point to the arrests (for far, four have
been reported) and damage made to property by small groups of protesters.
However, these incidents were not part of the organised protest, two of the
main incidents, at the Department of Business and Innovation and outside New
Scotland Yard, happened whilst the main rally was being addressed by the likes
of Aaron Kiely (who unsuccessfully ran for NUS Presidency last year) and
Caroline Lucas MP, of the Green Party.
Not only were these arrests in smaller numbers than in
previous years, then, but they were surely not the responsibility of the
organising bodies, namely the NCAFC. In fact, the NUS argument of an unsafe
protest hits more hurdles. One of these, and a significant one, is the Police
action on the day.
Yes, students have a reason to take proactive measures such
as handing out solicitors details, in the wake of previously harsh action.
You'll all remember the disturbing scenes of 'kettleing', I'm sure. However, in
this instance, the Met were not only peaceful, but their tactic of deploying
specialist Liaison officers worked very well.
One of these, Constable Tim Morris, was more than happy to
talk to me, and even be quoted. This will surely strike a chord with anyone
who's tried to talk to Police on a demonstration before. It's not usually this
easy at all. Morris said that the friendly, liaising approach was the "new
Policing. Where we don't care if they're on the grass, because that's not
really that important in the grand scheme of things. We'd much rather chat and
be open, than be chasing and arresting people".
In previous years, if a group had broken down barricades and
broken the contract that organisers had with the Police, the Met may have
reacted badly, and we may have seen a larger, more violent incident. However,
because the protesters were simply left to their own devices, the anger seemed
to dissipate, and no one was hurt in Parliament Square.
Later on in the evening, this was not the case, as I have
already mentioned. But whatever one's own political stance, it can surely be
understood that once people are damaging property (in the case of the
Department of Business and Innovation, not even property connected to the reason
for protest) the Police cannot stand by and watch. Interestingly, even after
4pm (When the protest officially ended), the Police were noticeably calmer than
in previous years, and when the groups made their way back to Parliament from
New Scotland Yard, the Met again let them onto the green, and did not follow or
attempt to make arrests.
It seems then, that the NUS's claims of an unsafe
demonstration were unfounded.
When I spoke to Conor McGurran, Campaigns Officer at
Manchester University Students' Union, he remarked that this was "Perhaps
the safest protest I have been on. But without the NUS it is certainly smaller
than it could have been, and with their involvement it could have been even
safer. I feel that they've run away a little bit, and left it to others when
they really should be involved".
A similar view was given by Alex Clifford, a Graduate of
Keele University, who served as a Student Union officer in 2012/13 and is now
Communications Coordinator at the University of Greenwich SU. The NUS have a "quite comprehensive
staff network who could have helped out weeks/months ago in organising this
demo and ensuring risk was minimized". He added that the NUS were
"actually mandated to participate in" this demonstration, again
adding to the general feeling that the student population was let down by the
body that are supposed to stand up for them.
Without the NUS, then, a vacuum was left to be filled. And
at 3pm, Aaron Kiely stood up, and announced that someone had come out from the
Palace of Westminster to talk to the protesters. This person was Caroline
Lucas, Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion. As has become common in
anti-austerity rally's in London, Lucas reiterated her Party's stance on
getting rid of Trident, and using that money to fund Higher Education. This was
of course, hugely popular with the crowd.
I spoke to Lucas
after her speech, and brought up the issue of the NUS not attending or backing
the day's activities. Her response was quite remarkable. She did not know that
the NUS had pulled out. In fact, when I told her such, both her and her
secretary looked extremely shocked. That's right; the Green Party MP, who has
been such a public figure in her support for the student movement, and the
anti-Austerity movement more widely, did not research the organisers of a
demonstration before she took her place on the podium and allowed herself to be
intimately connected with the movement.
In doing so, Lucas was also happy to accept the applause
from a crowd that will have taken great pride and confidence in the idea that
they have a high profile supporter in the House of Commons. All of which is
surely worth much less, if anything at all, seeing as it is apparent that Lucas
did not actually know who she was supporting.
The lack of NUS involvement in Wednesday's action may seem
like small detail, and in some ways, seeing that many thousands of students
from all over the UK arrived to march on Westminster, it was. But that's truly
only half of the story. The NUS may not be to the taste of all students, but it
is still the only national body that is run and mandated by students, for
students. It has an incredibly powerful potential. It's presence in UK politics
is perhaps one reason that Lucas simply assumed that they would be present.
But they were not. They backed out, for what turned out to
be no reason at all. And their constituents let their feelings be known, as the
word "scab" was scrawled across their Central London HQ. This would
have been a much bigger, and arguably more successful National Demonstration with
the NUS involved. We can only hope that they will make an appearance next time
the call is made.
