Glass
11th December 2010, 07:37 AM
http://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNews/img2/20101209/800_ap_charles_camilla_1012092_430241.jpg?2
THE street cleaners swept up the ashes of burnt placards and washed away the graffiti marring the stately buildings of Westminster. But a day after Britain's most violent protests in 20 years, one image lingered, iconic and inerasable: the heir to the British throne and his wife under attack by furious students shouting: ''Off with their heads.''
More than any other scene from the night of fury, the assault on the Rolls-Royce of Prince Charles and Camilla as their chauffeur unwittingly drove through a crowd of protesters seemed to declare the seriousness of a student movement that has seemingly risen up overnight.
The light of day led some students to express remorse for what officials described as a surreal evening of ''wanton vandalism'' and ''appalling violence.'' But others described it as a warning to the new Conservative-led government coalition.
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The protest underscored how students have emerged as the primary force of opposition to the government's historic plan to bust the British budget deficit, and how they could potentially grow into the kind of anti-establishment movement not seen here since the 1960s and 1970s.
The demonstration - the fourth but by far the most violent of recent weeks - was in opposition to a measure that Parliament approved on Thursday, dramatically reducing government subsidies on university tuitions. But instead of the end of their campaign, student leaders suggested that Thursday night marked the birth of a new, more aggressive social movement that would not use polite measures to resist spending cuts.
For the government, it raised the disturbing prospect that the tactics employed in the protest - students vandalised shops and turned parts of central London typically reserved for tourists and Christmas shoppers into no-go zones - might be a taste of things to come.
The image of the agape royals, their Rolls splattered with paint, their car window smashed, captured like nothing else that anti-establishment rage. The attack was vigorously debated across Britain, along with other acts of student vandalism including urination on a statue of Winston Churchill and the defamation of a prominent war memorial.
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Charles and Camilla, officials said, were on their way to a charity event at the London Palladium when a crowd of students trapped their Phantom VI on busy Regent Street. Camilla's window was half open, with protesters able to jab her in the side with a stick.
But many students remained unrepentant and blamed the media for focusing on the royal attack instead of what they called heavy-handed police tactics.
One protester was left unconscious with serious head injuries after apparently being hit by police batons.
Full Article...... (http://)
I suspect the Royals in the thick of it was a staged event. Anyone see an video of it?
A students speech from a few days ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U_gHUiL4P8&feature=player_embedded
THE street cleaners swept up the ashes of burnt placards and washed away the graffiti marring the stately buildings of Westminster. But a day after Britain's most violent protests in 20 years, one image lingered, iconic and inerasable: the heir to the British throne and his wife under attack by furious students shouting: ''Off with their heads.''
More than any other scene from the night of fury, the assault on the Rolls-Royce of Prince Charles and Camilla as their chauffeur unwittingly drove through a crowd of protesters seemed to declare the seriousness of a student movement that has seemingly risen up overnight.
The light of day led some students to express remorse for what officials described as a surreal evening of ''wanton vandalism'' and ''appalling violence.'' But others described it as a warning to the new Conservative-led government coalition.
Advertisement: Story continues below
The protest underscored how students have emerged as the primary force of opposition to the government's historic plan to bust the British budget deficit, and how they could potentially grow into the kind of anti-establishment movement not seen here since the 1960s and 1970s.
The demonstration - the fourth but by far the most violent of recent weeks - was in opposition to a measure that Parliament approved on Thursday, dramatically reducing government subsidies on university tuitions. But instead of the end of their campaign, student leaders suggested that Thursday night marked the birth of a new, more aggressive social movement that would not use polite measures to resist spending cuts.
For the government, it raised the disturbing prospect that the tactics employed in the protest - students vandalised shops and turned parts of central London typically reserved for tourists and Christmas shoppers into no-go zones - might be a taste of things to come.
The image of the agape royals, their Rolls splattered with paint, their car window smashed, captured like nothing else that anti-establishment rage. The attack was vigorously debated across Britain, along with other acts of student vandalism including urination on a statue of Winston Churchill and the defamation of a prominent war memorial.
........................
........................
Charles and Camilla, officials said, were on their way to a charity event at the London Palladium when a crowd of students trapped their Phantom VI on busy Regent Street. Camilla's window was half open, with protesters able to jab her in the side with a stick.
But many students remained unrepentant and blamed the media for focusing on the royal attack instead of what they called heavy-handed police tactics.
One protester was left unconscious with serious head injuries after apparently being hit by police batons.
Full Article...... (http://)
I suspect the Royals in the thick of it was a staged event. Anyone see an video of it?
A students speech from a few days ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U_gHUiL4P8&feature=player_embedded