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发帖数: 2053 | 1 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101209/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_tuition_tangle
LONDON – In Britain's worst political violence in years, furious student
protesters rained sticks and rocks on riot police, vandalized government
buildings and attacked a car carrying Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla,
after lawmakers approved a controversial hike in university tuition fees.
Demonstrators set upon the heir to the throne's limousine as it drove
through London's West End shopping and entertainment hub. Protesters who had
been running amok and smashing shop windows kicked and threw paint at the
car, which sped off.
Charles' office, Clarence House, confirmed the attack but said "their royal
highnesses are unharmed."
Police said it was unclear whether the royals had been deliberately targeted
, or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The couple arrived looking composed at the London Palladium theater, where
they were attending a Royal Variety Performance. Their Rolls Royce limousine
was left with a badly cracked rear window and was spattered with paint.
Protesters erupted in anger after legislators in the House of Commons
approved a plan to triple university fees to 9,000 pounds ($14,000) a year.
As thousands of students were corralled by police near Parliament, some
strummed guitars and sang Beatles songs — but others hurled chunks of
paving stones at police and smashed windows in a government building.
Another group ran riot through the busy shopping streets of London's West
End, smashing store windows and setting fire to a giant Christmas tree in
Trafalgar Square.
Police condemned the "wanton vandalism." They said 38 protesters and 10
officers had been injured, while 15 people were arrested.
The violence overshadowed the tuition vote, a crucial test for governing
Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, and for the government's austerity
plans to reduce Britain's budget deficit.
It was approved 323-302 in the House of Commons, a close vote given the
government's 84-seat majority.
Many in the thousands-strong crowd booed and chanted "shame" when they heard
the result of the vote, and pressed against metal barriers and lines of
riot police penning them in.
Earlier small groups of protesters threw flares, billiard balls and paint
bombs, and officers, some on horses, rushed to reinforce the security cordon.
The scuffles broke out after students marched through central London and
converged on Parliament Square, waving placards and chanting "education is
not for sale" to cap weeks of nationwide protests aimed at pressuring
lawmakers to reverse course.
The vote put Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and his Liberal Democrat party
in an awkward spot. Liberal Democrats signed a pre-election pledge to
oppose any such tuition hike, and reserved the right to abstain in the vote
even though they are part of the governing coalition proposing the change.
Those protesting in central London were particularly incensed by the broken
pledge from Clegg's party.
"I'm here because the Liberal Democrats broke their promise," said 19-year-
old Kings College student Shivan David from London's Trafalgar Square. "I
don't think education should be free but I do think that tripling fees doesn
't make any sense. We are paying more for less."
Inside the House of Commons and to the jeers from the opposition lawmakers,
Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable insisted that the new
tuition plans were "progressive" as a heated debate over the proposal began.
Many in his party disagreed, and 21 Liberal Democrat lawmakers — more than
a third of the total — voted against the fee hike. Another eight, including
at least one government minister, abstained.
Demonstrator John Dawson, 16, admitted that it might be too late to change
lawmakers' minds but said protesters must keep up the fight.
"The fact that so many students came out to protest today shows that, even
after the vote, they will still do whatever they can to avoid paying this
much for higher education," he said.
Experts warned that fallout from the policy could pose a greater risk after
the vote.
"The real danger for the government is not that they won't pass it through,
but that it will be a policy fiasco," said Patrick Dunleavy, a political
science professor at the London School of Economics. "By picking this fight
with the student body ... the government seems to have gotten itself into
choppy water."
All of this has made Clegg one of the least popular politicians on
university campuses. Protesters chanting "Nick Clegg, shame on you for
turning blue" underscored the sense of betrayal.
Clegg defended the proposals, saying the plans represent the "best possible
choice" at a time of economic uncertainty.
"In the circumstances in which we face, where there isn't very much money
around, where many millions of other people are being asked to make
sacrifices, where many young people in the future want to go to university,
we have to find the solution for all of that," Clegg told the BBC.
Cameron's government describes the move as a painful necessity to deal with
a record budget deficit and a sputtering economy. To balance its books, the
U.K. passed a four-year package of spending cuts worth 81 billion pounds,
which will eliminate hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs and cut or
curtail hundreds of government programs.
The government proposed raising the maximum university tuition fees in
England from 3,000 pounds a year to 9,000 pounds. Students reacted with mass
protests that have been marred by violence and have paralyzed some campuses.
In response, the government modified its plan by raising the income level at
which graduates must start repaying student loans and by making more part-
time students eligible for loans.
Students have said the concessions are not enough to lessen the blow of
higher fees. They say that under the proposal, piles of debt will plague
graduates and make a well-rounded education unattainable for many.
The controversy has highlighted regional educational differences in the
United Kingdom.
The Welsh regional government has pledged to subsidize the higher fees for
any student from Wales who enrolls at an English university. Student fees in
Scotland are just 1,820 pounds per year, sparking fears of a future
stampede of bargain-hunting students from England. Northern Ireland's fees
are capped at 3,290 pounds a year.
Associated Press Writers Jill Lawless and Gillian Smith contributed to this
report. |
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