Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Protests against education cuts at Hornsey School for Girls
Students at Hornsey School for Girls staged a sit down protest against the education cuts in their playground this morning. The school gates were then locked and no-one was being allowed to leave. The police were also called.
Several students who left earlier were approached by the police at Turnpike Lane station who were asking which school they attended and where they were going and why.
(thanks to Andy for this info)
Several students who left earlier were approached by the police at Turnpike Lane station who were asking which school they attended and where they were going and why.
(thanks to Andy for this info)
Tags for Forum Posts: education_cuts, hornsey_school_for_girls, public spending cuts
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Okay, you work there and watched it live. (From an office nearby?)
So - following Chris Setz's factual and dispassionate example - please tell us when you were there and what you actually observed. -
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Mr Hoyle, it's difficult if not impossible to know the complete picture of a complex event. But we can try to piece it together from accounts by people who were there at the time; and who each saw and heard some small part of what went on.
By "dispassionate" I wasn't suggesting Chris Setz doesn't care or wasn't say, angry or upset. Simply that his account stuck to a description of what happened to him and his daughter; what he personally witnessed - where and when - during a demonstration over several hours.
You've told us that you work there and watched it live. I have not and would not say that what you saw wasn't 'fact'. So please describe what you personally witnessed; where and when. If you weren't actually there during the demonstration, then just say so. -
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Permalink Reply by Chris Setz on
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Here's some reportage from the Grauniad.
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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Cutting the EMA is a complete scandal, which seemed to slip by almost unnoticed at first. Polly Toynbee (in the Guardian) says that 10,000 families in Hackney will be affected, losing up to £30 per week for each child still in education over 16, compared to only about 900 in Richmond.
I guess this way they will weed poorer children out of the university entrance system, leaving only those who can afford to pay whatever they charge.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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The loss of the EMA is why these kids are out on the street. I know you know that but others might not.
On another protest front, I see the citizens of Lewisham stormed their town hall in anger.
Up in Cambridge it's a rather more sedate affair.
And the BBC wrap-up;
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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As of 10.05pm tonight: A message from Clare Solomon president of University of London Union "We're still illegally kettled in the freezing cold on Whitehall. No food,water or toilets despite what the lying police are telling the media''.
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Re: Guardian video (put up by Chris Setz)
Obviously a younger crowd (school kids) than the uni students of 2 weeks ago, cutting their teeth in street protest. I haven't seen in any reports of any significant violence from the protesters.
Who organised these school kids for this protest? Did those setting up the Facebook (?) protest pages put them out there to go viral and then walk away? There don't seem to be stewards there on the day, someone who can negotiate with the police once the kettling tactic was used.
The police say they did their intelligence work by monitoring the likes of FaceBook and twitter'. Well if that's the case they would have realised it was going to be largely a very young crowd and that their planned tactics were unnecessary (kettling) and bordering on provacation (dumping of police van). Cynical.
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Who organised these school kids for this protest? Did those setting up the Facebook (?) protest pages put them out there to go viral and then walk away?
Good question, Matt. If pupils/schoolchildren (with or without parental or school permission/acquiescence) are to be part of future demos, some semblance of stewarding or marshalling would seem a minimal requirement. I didn't catch sight of any banners or placards for the LSSU - or is the London School Students' Union such a micro-fringe embryo as to be unrepresentative of anything?
Forty years ago (almost) if the NUSS had been more carefully nurtured and handled, secondary schools might well have benefited themselves and their (senior) students. Of course the young union was hung up on opposing compulsory uniforms and corporal punishment and so had to be squashed by most headteachers (including the Communist Max Morris and the aforementioned luminary Rhodes Boyson at Highbury Grove) and by the NUT of the day.
And yet the NUSS might have won itself an unlikely Patroness. Hansard, for 15 June 1972, records the Secretary of State for Education (one Mrs Margaret Thatcher) in reply to a question from Stanley Orme (Lab) saying that no, she hadn't received any communications from the NUSS on matters of Government Educational policy, but she could assure the Hon Gentleman and the House that:
"Many teachers are well aware of the legitimate aspirations of many young people to be consulted, and realise that their senior pupils should be treated as young adults rather than as young adolescents."
And to a Conservative questioner's suggestion that the NUSS might really be the creature of such as the NUS, Mrs Thatcher had this to say:
"I have no knowledge of this particular union (NUSS) but I think it is important that young people at school, who are maturing rather faster than formerly*, should have opportunities to express their views and should have some sense of responsibility."
* While this accelerated maturity may have been her later motivation for snatching their milk away, it seems tragic that wiser heads in the NUSS did not build on her implied goodwill. A marriage made in Heaven, perhaps, or at least in the Commons. Now may be the moment for HSSG to resurrect the NUSS and petition Lady Thatcher to be their Patron. ("We have nothing to lose but our uniforms.")
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While this accelerated maturity may have been her later motivation for snatching their milk away
OMG - one of those days quando bonus dormitat Homerus!
On checking my facts I find that Mrs Thatcher snatched that milk away on 15th June 1971 - exactly one year before her unrequited overtures to the NUSS. Well, maybe that's why they turned her down.
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The police can 'kettle' all they like. The student protest organisers will regroup for another protest in a few weeks time. They'll probably organise it so that smaller groups (1000 each for example) march/move from different points within London and target different destinations. That will keep the police busy.
As one young protester said today, they are 'not against the police. They have their own cuts to deal with'. The Met is due to annouce their budget cutbacks very soon.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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I suppose yesterday's police actions were only to be expected, given that they were roundly condemned for not anticipating the riot at Millbank. Damned if they do: damned if they don't.
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I wasn't at these demonstrations so I'm not going to give my non-eyewitness account of what I think happened.
Over the years at demonstrations I was on, there were people from the organising groups who marshalled us and liaised with the police. My personal experience was that police officers were usually cool and distant. Athough many - if treated with courtesy and good humour - responded in the same way.
Of course, that would have been very dull for "news" photographers and their bosses. So it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that when there's a "demonstration against tuition fees by tens of thousands of students and lecturers" (Daily Telegraph) all the papers will front-page the violence by a small group who smash windows and attack police vans.
Though, to be fair, I've also seen reports by individual journalists who took the trouble to speak to demonstrators and ask their views. Some news editors gave these views space - in print and on TV.
This is a new situation responding to very rapid events. Before people confidently pronounce on what we should expect, who is to blame, and what it all means, some listening and learning would be helpful.
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