London braces for day of protests by students, cabbies and sparkiesNoisy protests threaten to bring parts of London to a standstill tomorrow, with police drafting in back-up from around the country amid fears of violence.
Students, construction workers and taxi drivers are holding separate demonstrations in central London amid trade disputes and changes to higher education funding.
Up to 4,000 officers will police the events, with memories still fresh from last summer of how quickly protests descended into the ugly disorder of the London riots.
Up to 10,000 young people will demonstrate against the Higher Education white paper, claimed anti-cuts group the National Campaign against Fees and Cuts (NCFC).
They object to increasing funding for higher education from private sources, while state subsidies are drastically cut.
“The Bill is saying that education is something that can be bought and sold, and that is wrong,” said NCFC spokesman James McAsh.
It begins at midday at the University of London, in Matlet Street.
Police are taking seriously the threat of violence during tomorrow’s student march.
Plastic-coated bullets could be used by a small number of trained officers, if there is a repeat of the violent scenes seen a year ago during the student riots – during which Prince Charles’ wife Camilla Parker Bowles was poked with a stick through the window of the royal car.
Meanwhile, a demonstration by construction workers against employers is set take place at the Shard skyscraper, one of the biggest building sites in London.
Electricians are unhappy at changes to job specifications, which could cut up to a third from the value of pay packets, claimed the Unite Union to London24.com.
Rank and file staff will march to Blackfriars station, then join a rally along the Embankment to the House of Commons.
It starts at 11.30am.
Unite’s general secretary, Len McCluskey, said: “Unite highly skilled workers in construction are facing an unprecedented attack on their skills.
“These employers have threatened to sack any worker who does not sign up to their employers’ ‘charter’.
Electricians, who have trained for six years, demand the right to be paid as skilled workers. They have families to support and mortgages to pay and simply cannot afford to hand over a third of their pay to maintain the profits of their bosses.”
Elsewhere, The RMT union of Bob Crowe organised tomorrow protest by taxi drivers at City Hall and Trafalgar Square, from 2pm.
They claim Transport for London policies attacked the cab trade.
Mr Crow said: “From pedicabs to the abuse of ranks by minicabs and the whole fiasco of the Olympics lanes, the licensed taxi trade in London is under an unprecedented attack.
“That is why RMT members in the industry are working for maximum unity to defend jobs, safety and the quality of service to the publicScotland Yard Commander Simon Pountain said yesterday that around 4,000 officers will be on duty tomorrow thanks to mutual aid provided by other forces.
“We know the overwhelming majority of students are law abiding and we hope this will be a peaceful event,” the police chief said.
“We certainly don’t see it as inevitable that we will witness a repeat of last year’s scenes of violence and criminal damage.
“However, it would be negligent if we did not plan a response to the small minority who may be intent on disruption and may not intend to be peaceful.”
Regarding the potential use of baton rounds, a police spokesman said: “There are a range of tactics available if there is criminality and violence associated with the event.
“One of these is the authority to deploy baton rounds in extreme circumstances.
“These are carried by a small number of trained officers and are not held and used by those officers policing the route on Wednesday.”
Today, the Met released details of six people jailed for offences committed during last year’s student riots – including violent disorder and affray.
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