A university tutor from Brighton has been accused of being one of the “hardcore” leaders of the student protest which descended into violence in London yesterday (Wednesday 10 November).
Luke Cooper, a tutor in international relations at Sussex University, was singled out by the Daily Mail in its report on the violence.
It ran a story headlined: “Riot rabble who targeted Tory HQ: Unmasked, the hardcore leaders of the student mob.”
In its report the Mail said that Mr Cooper was a member of the pressure group Revolution and had confirmed that the event was carefully organised.
The Mail quoted Mr Cooper as saying: “There has always been a plan for Revolution and the International Coalition Against Fees and Cuts to take direct action after the National Union of Students demo.
“There are a number of different government buildings in that part of London and all of them would have been legitimate targets for protest and occupation.”
The Mail quoted Revolution’s website as saying: “We are a group of young activists who are fed up with unemployment, war, poverty, cuts and capitalism.
“We want to bring down Cam and Clegg’s millionaire coalition and replace it with socialism.”
Violence
About 400 students from Sussex University took part in the demonstration which ended in violence yesterday, with at least eight people being treated in hospital for injuries and 50 being arrested.
Brighton Pavilion Green MP Caroline Lucas also joined the 50,000 students and lecturers who marched through Westminster.
Some of the protesters stormed and smashed up the building that houses the Conservative Party’s headquarters, 30 Millbank, which is close to the House of Parliament.
A fire extinguisher was thrown from the roof, narrowly missing people below.
The protest was against plans to raise to tuition fees to as much as £9,000 a year, to tax graduates and to cut government funding for universities.
Tom Mauchline, 20, an international relations undergraduate student at Sussex, also joined the demonstration.
Mr Mauchline, who lives in Bentham Road, Brighton, voted Lib Dem at the general election.
He said: “I’m not usually the sort of person that goes on protests but I feel really passionately about access to education.
The students don’t seem to understand that the Lib-Dems came third in the election. They made the promises knowing thst they they could not win the election and now they are only part of a coalition and cannot develiver the promises. They cannot be blammed for the rise in fees.
The Lib Dems were preparing to drop the tuition fee promise before they even signed them, the pledges they signed were not conditional, they said that as MPs they would vote against tuition fee rises, it didn’t say that they’d only do so if they got into power so they willfully and knowing deceived the public who would not have voted for them if they had revealed the negotiations that were going on before the election.