Arrest count reaches 57 after tuition fees violence
By politics.co.uk staff
Police are continuing to investigate last week’s tuition fees protest, after three further arrests took place on Friday and Saturday.
Initially 54 people were arrested in connection with the violence seen at 30 Millbank, the building containing the Conservative party’s campaign headquarters, on Wednesday.
These are thought to be the core group of protestors who refused to leave the reception area of the building. Thirty-three were men and 21 women, 43 of whom were aged between 18 and 26.
The majority called themselves ‘students’ or a variation thereof, a statement from the Metropolitan police said. All were bailed pending further inquiries.
Media attention in the aftermath of the protests focused on footage and images of a person throwing a fire extinguisher off the roof of 30 Millbank into the crowd of protestors and police below.
Following the incident police arrested a 23-year-old man on suspicion of violent disorder in Cambridgeshire. Met officers interviewed him in Cambridgeshire on Friday evening before he was bailed.
An 18-year-old man was arrested by officers at Folkestone police station on Friday before a 17-year-old male was arrested and briefly held at an east London police station on Saturday afternoon.
The National Union of Students (NUS), which organised the 52,000-strong protest, reacted with dismay as its demonstration turned violent.
In a statement on the union’s website president Aaron Porter said: “All of us at NUS are deeply disappointed at the actions of a small minority of those 50,000 people who attended – and I know from the hundreds of emails and tweets I’ve received that the vast majority of you share my view that their actions were shameful, dangerous and counterproductive.
“We did everything we could to organise a peaceful and responsible action, but sadly it was hijacked and our press coverage overshadowed. But we must move forward – head held high. I won’t have our campaign derailed by people like this.”
