Are British Student Protests A Harbinger Of Future Violence Over Austerity Measures? -- Christian Science Monitor
Protests over austerity measures have swept France and Greece. A massive student protest Thursday in London questions whether continental-style rioting has crossed the English Channel.
As workers cleared debris from a violent student demonstration against hikes in tuition fees, Britons paused to wonder on Thursday morning: Is this the shape of things to come?
Dozens of arrests were made Wednesday after some participants in a larger student demonstration broke away and stormed a building in central London housing the headquarters Conservative Party, the senior partner in the ruling coalition.
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My Comment: Are more riots and protests in England's future .... the short answer is yes. In every country that has able bodied citizens dependent on a welfare system that sustains and protects them .... once this status quo is threatened the worse comes out. I have seen this in Russia in the early 1990s when the communist system fell apart, I see it in Canada (where I live) where mass protests always come out if certain sacred welfare programs are threatened (i.e. Quebec's $7 a day daycare program), we have seen it in France, riots in Greece .... and we will now see it in England.
With no money in the bank, and government's no longer able to tax those who work .... a breaking point is reached in which the true costs of programs and benefits must be examined. In England, education does not cost a few thousand pounds a year, and staying home while collecting assistance from a government that no longer has the funds to give .... this awareness and realization is happening now.
Expect more resistance and riots in England's future, coupled with the unions, students, the Labor party, and most members of the media voicing support for the protests and a call for more demonstrations and violence.