Student protests: Met chief warns of new era of unrest | Education | The Guardian #demo2010

Student protests: Met chief warns of new era of unrest | Education | The Guardian

Student protests: Met chief warns of new era of unrest

Sir Paul Stephenson says 'game has changed' as tuition fees campaign gathers momentum

• Paul Lewis, Matthew Taylor and Patrick Wintour
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 25 November 2010 20.49 GMT
• Article history

Police hold protesters back during a mass demonstration in London against tuition fee rises and funding cuts. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Britain's most senior police officer warned today of a new era of civil unrest as the national campaign against university fee increases and education cuts gathered momentum.

Sir Paul Stephenson, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, said the two large-scale student demonstrations of the past fortnight had been marred by a previously unseen level of violence, adding: "The game has changed."

His comments were seized on by critics, who said the hard-line rhetoric risked escalating tensions with students organising the nationwide grassroots campaign against education cuts.

Meanwhile, protesters today occupied 16 university campus buildings around the country. Six of the occupations – in Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, Plymouth, Edinburgh and London – were expected to continue