Students at the week-long Newcastle University occupation have stepped up their action in defence of education. As well as staging a sit-in at the King’s Gate building on the university campus, which resulted in the finance building being temporarily closed, they have submitted an application to the department for education to turn their occupied space into a free school.

This non-violent direct action – the latest in a series against education cuts and soaring tuition fees – was a response to the vice-chancellor’s refusal to meet the occupiers as a group in the occupied fine art building of the university.

Fifteen students marched into the new complex, mouths covered with tape, and lay in a line across the foyer. The group were symbolically gagged, as one of the students, Emily Clark, explained, “to show that we feel that our voices aren’t being heard”. They remained in the foyer for two hours despite requests from university management to leave the building, which had been shut down for the duration of the protest.

Masashi Stokoe, one of the students involved in the protest, said: “We haven’t been able to speak to the vice -chancellor as a group democratically. He says we don’t represent student opinion, but the wave of protests throughout the country recently suggest otherwise. Besides which we’re supported by our democratically elected student union.”

Jon Clark, a music student who was involved in the sit-down demonstration, summed up the overall mood of the protesters: “We are showing the management that we take the defence of education seriously. The occupation is not a glorified sleep-over – we are prepared to take action.”

Gabe Mason
Newcastle-upon-Tyne

(From Weekly Worker)