Students March Turns Violent 4/11/2010

Hi all..

Today was a big day for the students of Irish colleges. As times are tough and people are trying to spare every euro possible it was only fitting to see students from all over the country marching and protesting towards our government buildings. The reason for this protest is that our Government want to increase the cost for the average person to go to college. Compared to last years cost, which was €1500 registration fee, the government now want to charge each and every student €3000 now to attend college. This is not keeping in mind the cost of living, the cost of socializing, the cost of rent and the cost of stationary for throughout the year.

I have recently dropped out of college as I did not make a right decision at a young age of what i wanted my future to hold for me. But the reason I am so outraged at this is because I intend going back to college to complete a Web Design degree and therefore I too will be effected by these price increases.

This is not a case of people protesting for a stupid cause. This increase in fees means alot of people will not be able to attend college and alot of present students will not be able to return to finish out their courses in their college. Not to mention the people who never got a taste of college, the brilliant minds with empty pockets who simply cannot afford to go to college.

In my personal opinion I think this decision by the government to raise already high fees is an insult to college and potential college students of Ireland. The stereotypical college student is said to be poor. This is not a hoax, it is truly hard to pay fees and survive. Some receive grants to help them live and some, like me in my college time, have to live off already stretched parents who are already feeling the pinch from other governmental cuts.

So moving on from the outrageous fee increases. College students occupied the lobby of the Irish Finance Department building today in protest, which maybe they should have not done, but they were forcefully removed my the Irish Police, which I believe was the Police only  carrying out their job and have no problem with that. But then the Guards started beading innocent protesters, RTE, the main Irish channel caught police beating students until they bled and even hit one unlucky guy so hard in the head with batons that he struggled to keep consciousness and had to be carried out of the rioting crowd. I believe this was a further insult to the students and undermines the efforts of the do-gooders.

As I was not there I am not going into any further detail about these incidents because I am not going to try make up facts or defend either side. So all in all after todays events the Government should  listen to the student minority and hear they are voicing concerns and not trying to riot and cause trouble.

As this is my first blog post I hope this all looks good and worth the read :)