THE GREEN Party congratulates students taking part in the #Demo2012 protest against the loss of their Education Maintenance Allowance, the rise in university tuition fees, and the failure to provide employment opportunities for young people entering the workforce.
The demonstration, organised by the National Union of Students, is the first organised student protest in London since 2010 saw a wave of similar events caused by the government’s decision to almost triple university tuition fees.
Organisers expect at least 10,000 protesters to march past Parliament Square, under the slogan of ‘Educate, Empower, Employ’.
Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party, said: “Two years ago I spoke at a debate at Westminster Kingsway College, where I saw the anger and despair of students facing the loss of their Education Maintenance Allowance, and heard how for some it would mean the end of their education.”
“Now, their younger sisters and brothers enter a world in which the EMA is only a distant dream, where they face £9,000 per year tuition fees should they get to university, and where nearly one million young people are trapped in unemployment.”
“This cannot be allowed to continue. We need to support young people to learn, to train and to study, and ensure that they can be sure of finding a place in the workforce after that.”
“This means abolishing university tuition fees - the Green Party's fully-costed 2010 general election manifesto showed how that could be achieved - and restoring the EMA or a comparable system.”
Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: “Today Greens stand in solidarity with the thousands of students taking to the streets of London to march for the future of higher education.”
“This government’s reckless decisions to vastly increase tuition fees, scrap the Educational Maintenance Allowance and cut college funding amount to nothing less than an assault on our young people – and on the principle of universal education.”
“With youth unemployment now at nearly one million and no clear sign of economic recovery, our younger generations are facing the tragic reality of being denied the same opportunities as their parents.”
Lisa Camps, Campaigns Officer for Young Greens, said: “I'm marching with young greens from across the country today because the fight for our future didn't end with the trebling of fees and the scrapping of EMA. Young people have been promised a world of opportunities which has been pulled from underneath them.”
“Young people will protest, occupy, and keep taking action to take back our futures from a tiny elite intent upon preserving education as being for the privileged few.”