Student Protests/Riots - New one organised as well

[Dodge]

I was in town at the time and the impression I got from the chatter is that it was mainly middle class Dublin folk attending

Thats because its STILL mainly middle class folks who currently attend college. Are they not allowed to support the protest or is it only poor people who can protest? Maybe the poor people werem't the ones chattering enough for you to recognise them

[Charlie Darwin]

I was just making an observation. That the number of people whose ability to attend college would be seriously affected by the reintroduction of fees is relatively small and that the protestors' efforts might be directed towards grants reform.

[Rasputin]

Eirigi and the rest of the left wing brigade certainly hi-jacked the whole thing but there was certainly a student element that was more than happy to get involved.
firstly 20 or so protesters forcibly entered the department of finance knocking gardai to the ground in the process, a time passed with Gardai in the lobby with 20 or so protesters and that was relatively peaceful with the usual amount of abuse being thrown at Gardai which is fair enough they are well used to it.

The departement of finance was peppered with eggs and other missiles so much so that one of the protesters with a mega phone asked the other protesters out on the street to stop throwing them!! So far the public order unit are still sitting in their vans and the scene is relatively peaceful. However another group of protesters attempt to breach the Garda line of 7 or 8 at the entrance of the Dept of Finance and succeed by sheer volume of numbers knocking several Gardai to the ground in the process.

This happens again about 5 minutes later and some Gardai are screaming into the radio for assistance as they genuinely feared for their safety. Still the "riot squad" public order unit, whatever you want to call them are in their vans.



Assistance does arrive in the shape of further normal uniformed Gardai at this point and again efforts are made to secure the entrance to Finance and prevent further breaches. A short time later maybe 10 minutes at most do the public order unit arrive and they take their place in front of the uniformed Gardai to secure the door. This is at least 30 minutes into this protest



Protesters in the lobby of the Department are told they have to leave or they will be forcibly removed and arre given the opportunity to do so, an option several do take, and they leave. Uniformed Gardai then drag the remaining protesters out using a degree of force.



Once the lobby has been cleared, Gardai are still under "fire"eggs,bottles, placards, beer cans etc continue to hail down on them and the decision was taken to clear the street and disperse the crowd, people that chose to sat down did so to frustrate the Gardai attempt to move forward and clear the street and reasonable force may be used to move them.



The footage of the mounted unit running forward is when a chair was thrown at them and they had identified the person who did it and they chased after him and he was arrested.

Hahaha **** sake, I actually laughed out loud reading that.
Did you ever consider doing press statements for the Einsatzgruppen? They could use your talents to spruce up their waneing image.

[Eminence Grise]

I'm not sure what you mean here. Tuition fees (in non-private colleges) are covered in full by the state and the EU. The student grants covers all or part of the registration for those who qualify.

Ah... you're right! I didn't make myself clear. I was thinking of my own situation. I'm a postgrad, and all these courses have fees. Since I have a grant, Dublin city Council pay my fees I have to pay a tiny charge and USI levy myself as they aren't covered. Undergrads, I think, get up to a certain level of the registration fee paid, but I'm open to correction on that.

[peadar1987]

I'm not sure what you mean here. Tuition fees (in non-private colleges) are covered in full by the state and the EU. The student grants covers all or part of the registration for those who qualify.

I was in town at the time and the impression I got from the chatter is that it was mainly middle class Dublin folk attending. I feel for the students from the country and genuinely poor people who do struggle to make ends meet, but those people are in the minority and are the people that need to be accommodated by a more robust grants scheme. But kids from Dublin from are worried they may have to stay with their parents instead of moving out... not so much sympathy.

I'm middle-class. My family could probably afford fees, or at least, we could take out a loan without risking everything, but that doesn't mean I can't support the people who aren't lucky enough to be in that situation.