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Union Urges Students to Avoid Fees Protests

Jan 26 2004 15:18

Nia Stevens

Students attending protests other than the one organised by ULU “may be liable for arrest” warns ICU.

Protesting here requires caution.

In the latest newsletter to its members, students are encouraged to turn up tomorrow (Tuesday) morning to the House of Commons and lobby their local MP to try and persuade them to vote against the latest Higher Education Bill.

Following this, Imperial College Union will be participating in a protest organised by the University of London Union. ULU was mandated to organise this protest, despite the potential for conflict with the law, after its constituent college Unions all decided a demonstration should be organised. The protest has the support of the police however it will be contained to the section of pavement nearest Big Ben and permission has not been given for any other protests to occur outside Parliament tomorrow.

Other protests however, have been planned. In particular, one protest advertised widely to IC students calls for people to march to Parliament, which is illegal.

Of these other protests, Imperial College Union President, Mustafa Arif said “they are well intentioned but politically naïve” stating that the so-called rebel MPs who oppose tomorrow’s Bill have advised against any sort of protest at all for fear it would back up the prejudices of wavering MPs and actually persuade them to vote for the bill. He further explained that Union is supporting the ULU organised protest so that students who would like to protest have the opportunity to do so in a legal, and hopefully effective, manner.

Students wishing to lobby their MP tomorrow may meet in Beit quad from 8am or at the House of Commons anytime from 9.30am onwards. The ULU protest will take place from 1-3.30pm outside Parliament.

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Discussion about “Union Urges Students to Avoid Fees Protests”

The comments below are unmoderated submissions by Live! readers. The Editor accepts no liability for their content, nor for any offence caused by them. Any complaints should be directed to the Editor.

1. james

Jan 26 2004 19:37

just a question, how come it is illegal to march on parliament?

surely it should be some kind of constitutional right as a citizen...or don't we have a written constitution?

James

2. Edward Piggott

Jan 26 2004 20:33

It's only illegal to march when parliament is in session. Something about preventing revolutions methinks.

3. Etienne

Jan 27 2004 09:57

Edward is right about the revolutionary angle - if you think about the language used, the illegal act is "marching on parliament". The origin of that phrase is military campaigning, where the idea of marching on a place implied an intention to storm it by force.

It's a delicate balance between maintaining the right to protest in sight of your elected representatives, and ensuring that those representatives don't feel physically threatened.

As it happens, the usual place for protests of this sort is Trafalgar Square, not Parliament Square, which is usually considered sufficiently "in the heart of London" for the early evening news editors. Interestingly, both squares are controlled not by Westminster Council (as is the case for most other public spaces in the area), but the Mayor (whose office happens to be well-connected to the NUS).

4. simon pascoe

Jan 27 2004 18:32

I only received my copy of the newsletter at 15.10 on tuesday afternoon....not that helpful, although I did know about the organised protests before :-)

5. Mustafa Arif

Jan 27 2004 23:53

Sorry about the late receipt of the email. I don't send out College-wide emails directly. They are sent out for me by ICT only after approval from the Deputy Rector. So my control over their timing can be limited.

6. pedant

Jan 28 2004 23:29

There was no ULU organised protest.

7. Josh (ULU Exec)

Feb 13 2004 01:06

Yes there was and gosh did it work!

Ask Mustafa about the meaning of the word "irony" in relation to his support for the organised protest and emails a day later.

Closedd This discussion is closed.