The young people are angry. Do you blame them?

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Smashed windows, hurled placards and bloodied faces. Inexcusable, self-defeating and plain wrong. Before any discussion of today’s demonstration it’s important to differentiate between the peaceful majority who marched to oppose savage government cuts and the minority (many of whom aren’t students) who decided that today was an opportunity for a riot.

The peaceful protests are more representative of the student movement today – but those peaceful protesters still angry, and rightly so.

It wasn’t always like this. Back in 2006 I spent weeks trying to drum up a single busload of students to attend a similar demo in London. It was hard going. Students were disgruntled but disinterested. Yes, they were aggrieved that they were paying an ever increasing price for their education. But they had money in their pockets, the economy was strong and we knew that there were jobs out there for us when we graduated.

That’s not the case anymore. Young people are angry, and they’re frightened. And they have every right to be angry, and worried and frightened because the pain that is being inflicted upon the country by this government’s austerity drive will hurt their generation. Whilst ministers may talk of a debt burden that will be passed on to future generations, young people are right to question changes that will saddle them with huge personal debts, whilst rising unemployment means they may struggle to pay the loans back.

In such a climate, aspiration suffers, people begin to question if university is for them, and we slowly move back towards what British universities began as – finishing schools for the comfortably well off.

Fifty thousand people protesting against cuts to higher education cuts is a fantastic turnout, and one which shouldn’t be eclipsed by the violence which came at the end of today’s proceedings. It wasn’t just young people either. Lecturers from across the country turned out today in huge numbers. They’re worried about their jobs and for the future of the institutions they care about.

It’s obvious that a sustainable solution is needed for higher education funding in this country – but the one proposed by the coalition isn’t it. Ministers could do worse than consider Jeevun Sandher’s suggestions on LabourList this morning – he’s right, education benefits society as a whole, and that’s fertile ground for Labour to exploit in the coming days and weeks. It’s also clear that Nick Clegg is as loathed by the students of Britain as he is by Labour activists. To do as he did, and campaign on one platform and then once in government attempt the opposite is precisely the kind of behaviour that turns young people off politics.

This afternoon many people have asked why the Tory HQ was targeted whilst so much of the real anger on fees has been directed towards the Lib Dems. Why didn’t they target Cowley Street? The answer to that is a simple one – these days, with politicians like Nick Clegg, it’s hard to tell the difference.