On Saturday, over 100 students and allies marched through the streets of Bath to call for the abolition of tuition fees and an end to the marketisation of higher education.
The March for Free Education set off from Bath Abbey at 12.30pm and saw protestors head to the top of the city before singing and chanting their way to a rally in the middle of Southgate.
As well as Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts (an alliance of students from Bath Spa University and University of Bath), Bath University and College Union (UCU), University of Bath Students Union, Bath Against Cuts, Occupy Bath and the Green Party pledged their full support.
Also in attendance were members of BARF Anarchists, The Labour Party, Stop the War Coalition, University of Bath Unison, University of Bath Gender Equality Group, Bath Athiests, Humanists and Secularists, The Quakers, The Socialist Party, Bath Trades Council, Bath Women’s Group, Unite the Community and 38 Degrees.
Speakers included students from both universities, Dr Michael Carley From Bath UCU, Joe Rayment from University of Bath Unison, as well as Dominic Tristram, the Green Party parliamentary candidate for Bath and Ollie Middleton, the Labour Party parliamentary candidate.
The students issued a statement earlier in the week regarding their blockades of both Bath Spa University and University of Bath last Wednesday.
It said: “Education is a right, not a privilege. It is a public good that benefits society. Education pays for itself. We also can tax the big businesses that benefit from education, reduce military expenditure and/or clamp down on tax avoidance.
“The disruption we’re causing is a small price to pay in comparison to the destruction of the education system. If we don’t do something about it now then privatisation of education is only going to continue.
“We want universities and politicians to start taking this issue seriously.”
Students interviewed during the march said: “After a demonstration in London on 19th November with thousands of students in attendance, and subsequent actions that campuses across the country have undertaken this week, including our blockades of the entrances to both campuses on Wednesday, and the occupation in Warwick University, it is clear that there is a revival of the student activist movement and that this is only the beginning of the campaign for free education.”
Other universities across the country also undertook similar actions.
