Students fees - Unions join protest march over EMA scrapping
Published: 04 February 2011
by JOSH LOEB
A MARCH from Bloomsbury to the Houses of Parliament saw trade unionists join thousands of students in protest at government plans to raise university fees.
The demonstration on Saturday continued to the Tory party headquarters at Millbank and then the Egyptian embassy to express solidarity with the campaign to oust President Mubarak. It ended with groups staging peaceful sit-ins at chain stores in Oxford Street.
Tory cuts adviser Sir Philip Green, who has been accused of using loopholes to lower his Top Shop company’s tax bill, had his flagship Oxford Street store targeted. Mobile phone shop Vodafone was also surrounded.
The marchers included students from University College London and the University of Westminster. Around 20 Westminster Kingsway College pupils also marched. They protested at plans to scrap the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), paid to teenagers to help them with the cost of studying.
Karen Doyle, an activist from the Movement for Justice, said the protest had been “spirited and determined”.