London, England – A crowd of students marched through central London today, disrupting traffic and shouting slogans in a protest against an increase in university tuition.
Students also protested in other cities across Britain, including Leeds, Cambridge and Birmingham. Police said there had been 15 arrests in London and one each in Oxford and Glasgow, Scotland.
Three of the arrests happened after students filled Whitehall, the street that runs from Trafalgar Square past the prime minister’s residence toward Parliament. Police penned the protesters in at either end to try to limit criminal damage, and a line of police in fluorescent yellow vests kept the students from reaching Parliament Square.
“We’re kettled, we’re freezing, everyone needs the toilet, but we’re having fun,” protester Clare Solomon told CNN, using a local term for being penned in.
Solomon, the president of the University of London student union, said police had been containing them for five hours as of 6 p.m. (1 p.m. ET).
“Obviously, people are starting to get angry now. Everyone is really hungry,” she said.
But she thought the demonstration was a success. She estimated 20 000 to 25 000 people had turned out. (CNN)
