East Anglia region demands free education


Cambrige students protest against indebtedness, photo A. Gounelas

Cambrige students protest against indebtedness, photo A. Gounelas

On Wednesday 5 November around 100 students marched through Cambridge town centre as part of the East Anglia regional ‘Students in the Red’ day of action. Students from Cambridge University, Anglia Ruskin University, University of East Anglia and University Campus Suffolk took part.

The day was organised nationally by the NUS as a protest against the rapidly increasing levels of debt that most students are facing and to demand a “full debate” on higher education funding, without mentioning the issue of tuition fees explicitly. But it soon became clear that fees were the big issue, as Socialist Students members and others took up chants for free education.

Cambrige students protest against indebtedness, photo A. Gounelas

Cambrige students protest against indebtedness, photo A. Gounelas

That Cambridge Socialist Students was asked by student union officers to provide a speaker for the rally is a testament to how much work we have done in recent months on campuses in Cambridge. We helped to turn a potentially directionless demo into one that was explicitly calling for the scrapping of all tuition fees and for free education for all.

Edd Mustill, Cambridge University Socialist Students