Is the current violence that has been perpetrated by a small number of the marchers protesting about cuts to UNI funding just the start of the problems that these cuts are going to cause?

I am all for peaceful protest but the Met should come down on these people like a ton of bricks. Get them charged and kicked out of UNI. Then they won't have to worry about tuition fees and they can get a job - if they are lucky!

Did you see the fire extinguisher?

I think it's a huge shame that a small number of people are causing these problems, and I too worry about some of the protests that may happen about other cuts. Let's hope any marching or protesting remains peaceful, ot alternatively done at the ballot box. I think Clegg is on a losing battle with his seat next time round being in a strong student seat.

Are the 'criminal' protesters students at a University?

According to Mr Clegg on PMQs the £9k is the maximum the Uni can charge, nil paid up front, not all students will pay the full amount and many will pay nothing.

In this fog of claim, counter claim and obfuscation, is the truth getting lost?

People have a right to protest and vent their anger, but they should do it peacefully. Using violence won't help their cause one bit. People will quickly turn against them.

The Poll Tax (Community Charge) protests became very violent and THEY go what they wanted!

Did they? Really? (Get what they wanted).

Sometimes we have to be wary what we wish for, and there is still debate that an individual charge was fairer than 'Rates' or even the current 'Council Tax'.

Yes, but that was because everybody wanted that (the whole country was behind it). Tuition fees and such are usually a minority interest.

It may have been fairer especially for those like me who already paid the rates.
But for those who had previously paid nothing and were to be charged under this individual tax it meant paying out for the services they used.
It was mainly these people who protested (rioted).
The protests (riots) stopped the charge and they remained exempt while the good old property owner had to pay out to cover it with the new council tax..
(And boy have we paid out! )

Lefties always seem to set their "cause" back miles by their antics.

Whether it's tambourine banging, beady haired, face painted hippy types dangling from trees in a failed attempt to stop some road scheme from being built (Newbury, Winchester etc) or face covered thugs attempting murder by lobbing fire extinguishers off a high tower block (Millbank), lefties never really get their message across properly and all they ever do is build up resentment against them because the public then feels they do not represent them.

I bet the perps weren't students at all and I feel sorry for the Police. They are going to suffer cuts too and are only trying to keep the peace, some of them probably agree with the protesters reasons.

Maximum is £9,000 pa. Most courses are three years, therefore £27,000. Interest also accrues on this loan until it is repaid.

Perhaps the Students should count themselves lucky?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8570153.stm

It's just an excuse for the anarchists and unwashed to commit anarchic acts against the elected Government of the day. I hope the police find the lad who threw the fire extinguisher and he gets put away for attempted murder.

For what its worth I agree with the ethos of the protest, but as already stated violence is not the right way to go about it. I bet there are a lot of students really disappointed with the minority of idiots that caused this as the sheer numbers in the protest was very impressive and I think they would have had a lot of media focus and support had the whole thing not boiled over.

Clegg and the Lib Dems have broken a promise, one which I am sure they gathered many support on during their election campaign. I think people have a right to be disappointed by that. He signed a pledge to not increase the fees.

Students cannot continue to finish year on year with £20-30,000 worth of debt. It's illogical to expect them to do so and then contribute to the economy in vast amounts. They are the future of the country and they will be severely handicapped before they even begin.

Lest we forget the protesters who broke windows at the offices of the Royal Bank of Scotland ahead of the G20 summit.

Or, alternatively: long haired student types dig up cricket pitches, invade rugby pitches and make apartheid an international issue, eventually leading to its demise. Long haird lefties like their leader/spokesman Peter Hain, until recently a cabinet minister.

Around the same time students were stagins sit-ins and protests about the Vietnam War etc - a war the US eventually dropped as the tide of public opinion (led by 'lefties') turned against the war. Now who was leading the National Union of Students at the time? Jack Straw, until recently a cabinet minister.

Protest often fails, but not always. And leading protesters can go on and represent the public at a very high level.

Then there's PIRA terrorists, now members of Government.

'To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men'
Abraham Lincoln

I noticed they all disappeared before HollyOaks started!
Far too many Students in this Country. More people should be in Apprenticeships learning trade skills. You used to be needed to be 'clever' to go to University. Now it would seem to be a rite of passage.

They may have failed with those two but the tide of road building in this country changed because of these protests (and others).
(Not all those protesting against the Western By Pass were "tambourine banging, beady haired, face painted hippy types dangling from trees")

Not really the same thing - protests, even when they turn violent, are a long way from bombings, shootings and knee capping. I guess that most governments have their roots in a violent struggle of some sort, certainly the English does.

Protest is a legitimate way of making clear one's feelings for or against something - sometimes it works. Without protests we wouldn't have the vote, we could be press ganged into the navy, we wouldn't have trade unions, hangings would be taking place all the time, we would be paying poll tax, etc. Many of the 'advances' (like them or loathe them) towards modern society, towards the things we now talk about as 'rights', were only won from the government of the day through protest.

Hang on.... Did Erica Roe do her 'wobbly dash' as part of the Free Mandela movement? Well I never... every day's a school day!