British students raise hell over student fee hikes. Nick Clegg eats crow over broken promises.

This is wonderful news! Students in Britain held a 50,000 strong protest in front of Conservative and Liberal-Dem headquarters at the Millbank building. The protest were held to protest 300% fee hikes at the nations universities. It has turned into a riot, with student taking over the building and barn fires built. Anger was particularly strong toward Liberal-Dem Nick Clegg who campaigned heavily on college campuses promising not to raise such fees. The students are accusing him of being a Tory mole. From the Guardian.

The NUS president said the march was the biggest student demonstration in generations, telling protesters: "We're in the fight of our lives ... we face an unprecedented attack on our future before it has even begun.

"They're proposing barbaric cuts that would brutalise our colleges and universities."

This "miserable vision" would be resisted, he said, imploring students to take their protests to their constituencies and adding: "This is just the beginning ... the resistance begins here."

Protesters who attacked the Millbank building used their banners to light a bonfire in the outside forecourt. Police drafted in the Territorial Support Group riot squad.

Nick Clegg is out there speaking to the student, admitting he "had to break his promise," and now it looks like the kids will target liberal Dem mps(members of parliament). From the torygraph

Standing in for David Cameron at Prime Minister’s Question Time, he conceded that he had “not been able to deliver the policy that we held in opposition” after abandoning a pledge to scrap university fees altogether.

Instead, the Liberal Democrats last week signed up to Coalition plans to allow institutions to charge up to £9,000 a year.

Mr Clegg made his admission as student protesters outside Parliament waved placards accusing him of “conning” voters.

It's easy for the American media to ignore the French since they don't speak English, so apathetic and uneducated Americans often don't know protest is even an option in a democracy, or that it is something responsible citizens do. They don't and can't ingnore protests in England. This is being well covered on cnn, fox, and msnbc.

Granted they are naturally focusing on the violence, but it is likely the protests would be outright ignored if it weren't happening. The million person antiIraq marches were ignored by the media and the Labor Party. Boycotts and civil disobedience would be preferable but the anarchist property destruction is preferable to pathetic marching and chanting which the establishment does not pay attention to, since it doesn't cost the establishment anything.

Lets hope 500,000 more protesters turn out tomorrow and let's hope it spreads to the States.