Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, was embarrassed by the lack of police protection at the demonstration by students two weeks ago. A smaller level of violence was witnessed at yesterday's protest: a decrease that can be attributed to the larger police presence. Attempts by the students to occupy property and carry out a similar trashing as two weeks ago were prevented. The marches do not fit my definition of peaceful: since they result in the destruction of property and attacks on police and innocents.
The condemnation of the violence on the Left has been half-hearted and replaced by opportunistic encouragement. Through voicing opposition to tuition fees, Labour hopes to garner support from the universities and supplant the Liberal Democrats.
Sir Paul Stephenson has stated that this could herald a new era of unrest. This has been attacked as a "self-fulfilling policy" by Labour and Green politicians. Since the role of police commissioner was politicised under Blair, Stephenson is in the realm of management expectations: anticipate a higher level of unrest and hold hands up if it causes error in policing levels.
Yet, this is a single issue campaign; already tarred by the violence of the student protests. Whatever sympathy, the National Union of Students may have sought, has been eroded or removed by the violence. If students can protest, they can work; if they can work, they can pay for their own education. It is a line of argument you hear more often. No government will cave in to such demonstrations and, therefore, the campaign has already failed. The political party which will suffer the electoral damage from the tuition fees protest is Clegg's. Unpopularity will force them to cleave more tightly to the coalition, unless the uncompromising Left under Simon Hughes opt for principled oblivion and try to bring the government down. The subsequent schism will prove that the Liberal Democrats could not be a party of government.
Discounting this unlikely option returns us to the prophecy that we are entering a new era of unrest. For now, this still seems unlikely. It depends upon two further developments: the radicalisation of a proportion of the student body, turning to the hard left and, perhaps, following the nihilistic path to terror (the "the class enemy don't listen to us, let's bomb anyone through cleansing violence" school of argument); and, the move towards more violent protests and wildcat strikes on the part of the public sector unions.
Unless we see clear signs of radicalisation in these areas, I suspect that the single issue campaign will eventually follow comparable predecessors and fizzle out. A pity for Stephenson; perhaps he wanted some excitement...