The Echo

Protesters attack car containing Prince Charles


Associated Press • December 9, 2010

LONDON — Angry protesters in London have attacked a car containing Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.

An Associated Press photographer saw demonstrators kick the car in Regent Street, in the heart of London's shopping district. The car then drove off.

The prince's office had no immediate comment.

Protesters angry at a huge tuition fee hike are fighting with police and smashing windows in London after British lawmakers today approved a controversial plan to triple university tuition fees by a narrow margin.

The plan to raise the cap on tuition fees to 9,000 pounds ($14,000) was approved, 323-302 in the House of Commons, a close vote given the government's 84-seat majority.

The tuition vote posed a crucial test for governing Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, and for the government's austerity plans to reduce Britain's budget deficit.

Outside Parliament, police with riot shields and batons tussled with angry student protesters, keeping them away from the building.

Many in the thousands-strong crowd booed and chanted "shame" when they heard the result of the vote, and pressed against metal barriers and lines of riot police penning them in.

There was a standoff as the Metropolitan Police force said the "extreme violence currently being directed towards officers" was making it hard to let demonstrators disperse.

Earlier small groups of protesters threw flares, billiard balls and paint bombs, and officers, some on horses, rushed to reinforce the security cordon. Police said 13 protesters and eight officers were injured, while seven people were arrested.

The scuffles broke out after students marched through central London and converged on Parliament Square, waving placards and chanting "education is not for sale" to cap weeks of nationwide protests aimed at pressuring lawmakers to reverse course.

The vote put Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and his Liberal Democrat party in an awkward spot. Liberal Democrats signed a pre-election pledge to oppose any such tuition hike, and reserved the right to abstain in the vote even though they are part of the governing coalition proposing the change...

Keep reading at: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20101209/NEWS/101209023/Protesters+attack+car+containing+Prince+Charles