We believe in our right to higher education

Thousands of students took the streets of London yesterday to voice anger at the Government’s plans, following which university tuition fees tripled two years ago.

 

Students from all over the UK gathered outside the University of London student union at 11am, to defend their right to higher education.

 

Police issued warning notices to protesters that they risked arrest, if they deviated from the pre-arranged route from the University in Bloomsbury via Embankment to join the other demonstration at Westminster Bridge.

 

The march took place amid a heavy police presence and Scotland Yard obtained a section 12 order banning protesters from going past the Houses of Parliament.

 

According to the National Union of Students (NUS), the number of applicants to all British Universities dropped 7.7 per cent, with highest fall of 18 per cent in the capital, following the introduction of the £9,000-a-year-fees.

 

Figures show that the steepest decline in application was from people living in the London boroughs of Hackney North and Stoke Newington.

 

Today demonstration was the biggest since 2010, when nearly 50,000 students protested against the tuition fees increase and a group of protesters smashed their way into both the Conservative Party HQ in Millbank and several stores in central London.

 

These young people believe in their cause and want higher education to be a priority. 

 

However, students are those battered the most by the cuts. In fact, not only tuition fees tripled but also the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) was abolished last year.