Protests and tuition fees: both are costing more than can be imagined

The debate regarding tuition fees was today officially drowned out.

Images of peaceful protests were replaced by images of hooded students defacing the streets and monuments of London, littering, lighting fires, and even trying to confront members of the Royal family.

Despite an initially ‘peaceful’ protest, antisocial behaviour and unmerciful protesting soon took over.

While the protesting students would have typically evoked sympathy from an ordinary bystander, it seems that this is unlikely to be observed.

Once friends, family, parents and peers of the protesters are faced with the massive clean-up bill from this protest, and once higher taxes are imposed to cover the costs needed to tidy the streets, repair broken windows and compensate injured police officers, this picture could get uglier.

Fair enough, the students were making a point, but there is a safe, considerate way of doing so, and a not-so safe, inconsiderate way of doing so, and they opted for the latter.

It’ll be their parents, friends, family and peers who will be paying the price for their ruthlessness, and it’ll be students themselves forking out over the longer term as they pay up to £9,000 per year for tuition fees in England after parliament voted in this rise today.

It was good that students were standing their ground and fighting for what they believed in. They just didn’t need to fight so literally.