Three students were arrested following a demonstration at Birmingham University on the 29th of January on charges of violent disorder. They could face up to an eight year prison sentence.
The demonstration was partly in aid of staff at the university being paid the Living Wage, and for management to lobby against proposed increases in tuition fees by the government.
A total of thirteen students were arrested at the demonstration and questioned by police. Authorities at the university say that the protest led to injuries to members of staff and damage to campus buildings.
Protesters are expected to pursue legal action against the police, who arrested them after the students refused to provide them with personal details in order to exit a kettle.
The High Court ruled last year that it is unlawful for police to stipulate the provision of personal details as a condition of release from a kettle. Simon Natas of ITN solicitors said that he found it to be “very disturbing indeed if any police force was still engaging in this practice.”
Six students have been excluded from Birmingham University as a result of their involvement in political campaigns.
Xavier Cohen, a student from Balliol College, commented, “In the last year, we have seen a coalition between neoliberal university managements set on marketising their universities and the police, who have worked together to suspend protesters and intimidate students, in order to prevent us from coming together to collectively express our grievances.
“The use of violence against peaceful protesters – both students and activists generally – is endemic by the police across the country. From the use of several riot vans to force a peaceful student occupation out of Senate House in London last term to almost killing a student at one the tuition fees demonstrations in 2010, the police are all too quick to violently quash any expression of political grievances outside of the ballot box.
“The protests I have been to in Oxford have always been peaceful and there’s been insufficient police presence to violently put down a rally.”
Several Oxford Colleges support the Living Wage Campaign, including All Souls, Brasenose and Green Templeton, who all paid the Living Wage to their staff last year.
The Living Wage stands at £7.65 in the UK outside of London, and represents the minimum earnings required to afford to live and have a basic participation in society. The UK Minimum Wage is currently just £6.31.
The Living Wage campaign has been in operation since 2006, and fights to increase the wages of those earning the least.
Helen Tatlow, a student from Keble College, told Cherwell, “It seems that though the students at Birmingham had an extremely valid and emotive cause for which to protest – the Living Wage Campaign – the violent methods of some of the protestors has somewhat undermined their protest against injustice.
“The University of Birmingham’s statement that ‘the university will not tolerate behaviour that causes harm to individuals, damage to property or significant disruption to our university community’, suggests that they had to take action against their own students in order to protect the reputation of their University, minimising the potential of the students protest movement to gain backing both from the University, and its Union, the Guild.”
Superintendent Lee Kendrick defended the police’s actions against protestors, saying, “This may well have been billed as a peaceful protest but it escalated into a serious public order incident. A criminal investigation has been launched and anyone found to have acted unlawfully will be punished. We strongly refute any suggestions of containing or ‘kettling’ a lawful protest.”
Police were called to the scene by the university, who said,”Given the serious nature of their actions, the university had no choice but to ask the police for assistance in restoring order and protecting students, staff and university property.”
