Edinburgh students to protest in London

The Edinburgh University Students Association (EUSA) has chosen to support the anti-fees and cuts demonstration in London which is due to take place on 9 November.

In a statement released by EUSA, President Matt McPherson confirmed that the Union has “secured funding from Student Council for the London Demonstration against fees and cuts."

EUSA will be providing subsidised coach travel to London from Edinburgh and agreed to allocate seats via a lottery system which was agreed at the Student Council on 25 October.

EUSA Vice President of Academic Affairs Mike Williamson expressed his support for the action, telling The Journal: “David Willetts’ White Paper is undoubtedly the biggest attack on higher education we've seen in our lifetimes. It is very important that we as a movement mobilise against this de-facto privatisation of universities.”

However questions have arisen over how appropriate it is for students to travel to the demonstration, as the National Union of Students (NUS), whilst having expressed political support, are not explicitly organising the demonstration.

Instead the demonstration is being organised by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC), which has lead to questions being asked over the legality and safety of the demonstration. Following this, the NUS have released a statement advising student associations about safety checks they should perform before agreeing to send students to the demonstration.

Due to the charity status of EUSA and other student associations the NUS has advised that all legal requirements are met including a comprehensive risk assessment and taking “steps necessary…to minimise or mitigate the risk of public order or criminal offences being committed."

EUSA believes that these obligations have been met. When asked about the NUS not organising the demonstration Mike Williamson said: “I’m personally astounded that they [the NUS] don’t want to give this campaign priority over others” but added that “NUS has to act upon the will of its members” and that this is “disappointing but understandable."