Warwick students join protests in London against tuition fees

Over 100 students from Warwick University travelled down to London to join the march against university tuition fees, in support of the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) for their national demonstration.

The students, including members of Warwick For Free Education (WFFE) and Students’ Union sabbatical officers, joined students from across the country at the demonstration.

At the start of the demonstration, shadow chancellor of the exchequer, John McDonnell, addressed protestors.

The demonstration then passed by key landmarks such as parliament square and the Home Office.

Images have emerged of the demonstration turning violent, with video footage showing police using physical force against demonstrators.

Warwick students on the march against tuition fees Photo: Charlie Hindhaugh

The Metropolitan police have confirmed the arrest of twelve protestors after eggs and smoke bombs were thrown during today’s protests.

It is unknown at this point whether any Warwick students were involved in these incidents.

Scotland Yard said “a small group of protesters” had thrown paint outside the Home Office and “another group attempted to push their way into the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills building but were prevented by police.

The demonstration was described by the National Campaign against Fees and Cuts as a rallying point for resistance to the government’s programme of cuts, fees and marketization in the higher and further education sectors.

My intense dislike for WFFE stems not from their cause but from their methods.”

Oliver Woolcott, Warwick student and Conservative voter

The group claim that they will fight for a positive vision of what they think education should look like – free, liberated and democratised.

Hope Worsdale, a Warwick Maths student who is a member of WFFE and the NCAFC National Committee said that she hoped the demonstration would provide “a springboard for a new level of resistance”.

She believed that: “The tory government has already tried to abolish higher education as we know it, and now they will come back, unrestrained – and we intend to fight for every inch of the education system and the wider welfare state.”

Warwick Graduate, Callum Cant, was heavily involved in the organisation of the demonstration and told the Telegraph that: “Mounting levels of student debt are making university less accessible”.

The tory government has already tried to abolish higher education as we know it, and now they will come back, unrestrained – and we intend to fight for every inch of the education system and the wider welfare state”

Hope Worsdale, Warwick for Free Education

Oliver Woolcott, a Warwick student and Conservative voter, expressed his disapproval for the actions of WFFE: “My intense dislike for WFFE stems not from their cause but from their methods.”

On the London events specifically, he also commented: “I think it is wrong for the SU to support and promote their movements in the demo. The SU should remain neutral on such a matter which involved the arrest of twelve individuals – leave it to individual societies to promote rather than the institution which represents the entire student body.”