Understanding British Protests

When I first heard about students rioting in England I was confused as to what they were rioting about. It's over college tuitions going up after they are used to the government paying for it. Now they are going to have to pay for it. This is a pure example of the disaster that is socialism. I found some letters written on a site that explains it quite clearly,however I think it's gotten way out of hand with having the police being brought in and throwing bricks and eggs at Price Charles and Lady Camilla and shouting things like "Off with their heads.". They will get farther protesting peacefully than resorting to violence.


At the same time, they see a minority basking in untold wealth and using every possible loophole to avoid paying tax. Unless the Lib Dems can be seen to start reducing such inequality soon, they may be wiped from the political map in the next election.
Geoffrey Payne
London W5

What sort of message are we sending the next generation, those that have the guts to protest that their future is under threat, when we send charging horses and police in riot gear at schoolchildren and young students.
Many of these young people will become our leaders, and providers in the not-distant future . Let's hope they don't remember this, and vote for euthanasia for our senile generation, a generation who obviously care so little for them (unless their parents are wealthy) that we are happy to deny them an education that many of us (myself included) took for granted as a right when we were their age. I despair.

Dave Morgan
Beddington, Surrey
It is not students who will be paying back large sums of money; it will be adults earning a substantial salary. It is therefore not the Lib Dems who are responsible for the rioting: it is Labour Party members for incessant misrepresentation of the Lib Dem position with the intention of destroying the Liberal Democrat party – which may very well succeed.

Tom Hetherington
Canterbury
On the day of the vote for a 200 per cent increase in university tuition fees more than one Liberal Democrat MP has given the excuse of "Well, we didn't win the election", suggesting that having failed to secure a majority they have necessarily compromised their position.
This is, of course, complete nonsense. In the real world their promise to vote against a rise in tuition fees was a promise to vote against a rise regardless of which party they would be in a coalition with. Their decision to turn their backs on the thousands of voters who supported them in the last election marks the end of the Liberal Democrat party as a serious contender.
Paul Tyler

Canvey Island, Essex
Thousands of floating voters decided who to vote for based on the promise not to increase university fees. Nick Clegg and Vince Cable now claim this was unrealistic and have broken that promise. If they want to be taken seriously as a major political party in future they should call an immediate election and let the public decide again. It is not fair that we are stuck with liars for the next five years.

Peter Bergman
Altrincham, Cheshire
I fully support the right of students to protest peacefully. However we can no longer believe the assurances of the organisers. Students must now accept the decision of a democratic government to raise the fees. If they do not like it, then they must work to change their MPs at the next general election.
Police who use unnecessary or unreasonable force should be and are disciplined. But equally we need to recognise the extreme pressures on police officers in these circumstances, quite apart from the considerable costs to the public purse.

Rupert Ward
Chislehurst, Kent
From the point of view of the security forces, Thursday's collision between the students' demonstration and the Prince of Wales's procession showed at best a lack of information and at worst stupidity.
From the point of view of those protesting about the Government's expectation that they should suffer to buoy up an economic system previously plundered by fat cats, to have thrust into their midst the very embodiment of pointless, outdated and unaccountable privilege could be seen as nothing less than crass provocation.
Cameron described the students' reaction as "regrettable", which may be appropriate, but to call it also "shocking" merely demonstrates how unaware he is of the anger felt by a huge number of betrayed voters.


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VIDEO...

Police braced for more student unrest...