U.K. Students Protest Education Cuts

Police in England are better prepared to deal with student ire than they were two weeks ago: So far, their lines have held against thousands of protesters marching against cuts to higher education. Which is not to say that the protests have been tame. Several universities have been occupied, two police officers have been injured, a police van was attacked, and fires started. Students planned to march outside the Liberal Democrat headquarters to protest what they see as a betrayal of the party’s promise to vote against tuition hikes, a reversal party leader Nick Clegg apologized for, saying, "I hate in politics, as in life, to make promises that you then find you can't keep," but that in a coalition government compromises are necessary. Protest leaders claim that the marchers represent an “unprecedented wave of student revolt,” and compare them to the student protests of 1968. Two weeks ago, protesters burst through police lines and occupied the Conservative party headquarters.