Lecturers must stand with students to preserve the right to protest | Nina Power

Cops off Campus protest at London University. The authorities have turned a civil matter into a criminal one, argues Nina Energy. Photograph: Paul Davey/Corbis

3 many years ago right now, parliament voted by a narrow margin to triple tuition fees and lower the educational upkeep allowance. Outside, thousands of college students, lecturers and other individuals gathered in the freezing cold to protest against every thing the vote represented – the closing off of more and larger education to all but the rich and those prepared to get on 1000′s of lbs well worth of debt for a occupation that may possibly in no way come. Riot police charged horses into crowds, lashed out with batons to devastating result and kettled hundreds for hours on Westminster Bridge. Dozens had been later on charged with significant public buy offences, despite the fact that juries thankfully didn’t purchase it, acquitting 18 of the 19 who pleaded not guilty.

Three years later on, we find the right to protest however far more eroded. Following successful pupil actions in help of cleaning workers, “occupational-fashion protests” have just lately been the topic of an injunction at the University of London, turning a civil matter criminal, and current “Cops Off Campus” demos have seen a return of aggressive police techniques in the kind of bodily violence, kettling and mass police presence. The only issue the police seemed to have “learned” from final time was the short-term impact of mass arrests – as the 286 anti-fascist protesters arrested lately in Tower Hamlets will know. Protesters are loaded into police vans or specially commissioned buses, taken to police stations all more than London and sometimes even outdoors the city, held for hours, released on police bail with ludicrous situations (not to enter the city of Westminster, or to attend any protests, or to congregate in groups of four), then the costs are dropped several months down the line.

The velocity at which the police arrest protesters is mirrored by the slowness of the state to drop charges: bail is utilised as a temporal weapon to carry on punishment when protests are more than. University managements are complicit with this kind of prosecutions, calling the police to get action on their personal students, enabling police to film protesters and colluding with the authorities to ban students from campus, as the current suspension of five Sussex college students shows. All of this helps make really clear the place the battlelines are drawn: employees, college students, and absolutely everyone who keeps the university going on one particular side management, police and courts on the other.

As a lecturer, I was horrified to see the treatment of protesters during and after the anti-charges protests 3 years ago. I am equally concerned now, as police and management do their ideal to preserve the image of campuses as web sites of privatised, consumer-primarily based companies, rather than spots of dissent, disagreement and debate. The fees enhance has not created the docile, indebted students the government presumably had in thoughts – on the contrary, the anger is visceral and true: the future of increased schooling is as yet unwritten. College students are increasingly conscious of the accurate goal of the police: the middle-class compact that grants the police a protective position in some scenarios is becoming dissolved in the recognition that police brutality at a protest is the tip of an iceberg that contains the varieties of violence (daily stop and search, deaths in custody or at the hands of firearms officers) that some students would otherwise not experience.

A third national Cops Off Campus demonstration has been named for Wednesday, in spite of the threats and arrests. But this is not just about college students, who following all are fighting for the rights of cleaners and assistance personnel, as effectively as for open and public accessibility to greater education. Lecturers must stand with their college students against management and towards the police – the college students who fought towards the introduction of tuition charges are the identical ones standing with employees on picket lines: we owe our college students far much more than our livelihoods.

Lecturers must stand with students to preserve the right to protest | Nina Power

The Learning Network Blog: 6 Q’s About the News | Hundreds of Thousands Protest in Kiev

Gleb Garanich/Reuters “Resignation! Resignation!” members of the crowd chanted in Kiev on Sunday, reiterating their contact for the ouster of the president and the existing government. Go to associated article »

six Q’s About the Information

Read through the post and answer the information questions beneath.

In the article “Kiev Teems With Pro-Europe Protesters as Thousands Far more Gather” David M. Herszenhorn and Andrew E. Kramer create about the rally and what its participants want to see adjust in their nation.

HOW prolonged have men and women been protesting in Kiev?
WHO is Viktor F. Yanukovich?

WHAT do the protesters demand?
WHEN did Mr. Yanukovich promise to comprehensive the agreements with the European Union?

The place else have like-minded men and women been protesting?

WHAT are the “unpalatable choices” that the post predicts Mr. Yanukovich will encounter if the protests continue?

WHAT crisis does Ukraine now encounter?
WHO will most most likely step in to support?
WHY would help from that nation make the protesters angry?

WHY did the protesters in Kiev topple and decapitate a statue of Vladimir Lenin?

HOW do numerous Ukrainians view their country’s achievable collaboration with the European Union?

For Larger-Buy Considering

The post states, “The protest motion accelerated significantly soon after a violent and unwell-conceived crackdown by the riot police on a modest group of demonstrators far more than a week ago.” It also estimates 1 of the protest’s organizers as saying that folks are participating not always due to the fact of their political views but due to the fact “they want to reside with dignity.”

HOW do you connect these two concepts?

To WHAT other public acts of protest can you evaluate the existing demonstrations in Ukraine? WHY?

The Learning Network Blog: 6 Q’s About the News | Hundreds of Thousands Protest in Kiev

Protest to question circumstances of professor’s death

Although his lead to of death stays unknown, colleagues and friends of the late Yale assistant professor Samuel See are mobilizing in his honor.

A public demonstration scheduled for this Tuesday will protest actions taken by New Haven Police officers surrounding — and allegedly involved in precipitating — See’s death in a New Haven jail approximately two weeks in the past. A Saturday e mail forwarded to members of the Yale faculty by Christopher Miller ’83, professor of French and African-American studies, asked concerned members of the University community to attend a march starting at 12 p.m. in front of New Haven City Hall.

“A death in jail is a political death,” wrote the organizer of the march, Nathan Brown, an assistant professor of English at the University of California, Davis. “This is specifically the case when it is the death of a gay guy, given the structural and historical homophobia of policing, incarceration, and the legal technique in the United States.”

The march will proceed via campus and the downtown community just before ending at NHPD headquarters at 1 Union Avenue, in which See was discovered dead on Nov. 24. See, who was on depart this semester from the English department, had been detained following a domestic dispute the preceding afternoon with his husband, Sunder Ganglani.

“We need to have to demand solutions,” Miller informed the Information in a Sunday e mail. “And the silence of Yale University in this is deafening.”

Yale Spokesman Tom Conroy could not be reached for instant comment Sunday evening. The University issued a press statement on Nov. 27  following news of See’s death, expressing condolences to See’s household, colleagues and buddies. Conroy said in an electronic mail to the Information final week that Yale was in touch with police as nicely as state judicial officials — and focusing its efforts on providing assistance to individuals in grief.

Brown mentioned the protest will raise queries not only about the managing of See’s arrest and incarceration but also about the validity of the details the NHPD has released on the topic. Even though See’s trigger of death is unknown — and will likely stay so at least until finally the chief state healthcare examiner’s workplace concludes its toxicology report — Brown mentioned the “carelessness and … violence of the police response definitely exacerbated people leads to and contributed to his death.”

However See and Ganglani had mutual protective orders against 1 another, Ganglani had returned to See’s Wooster Square property on Nov. 23 to retrieve some belongings. When police — known as in by See’s sister, who was out of state — verified the protective orders, they moved to arrest and charge the two men. See allegedly resisted arrest, in accordance to press statements from the NHPD, and fell and minimize his eye in the method. He was handled for the damage at Yale-New Haven Hospital that evening and then positioned in police lock-up, charged with violating a protective buy, interfering with police and threatening in the 2nd degree — having allegedly yelled at arresting officers “I will kill you.” See was located dead in his cell at about six a.m. the next morning, Nov. 24.

Brown, who knew See as a fellow Ph.D pupil at the University of California, Los Angeles, said he final spoke to See above the phone in 2012 and knew him to be “struggling with depression.” He explained the arrest was unwarranted and excessive, specifically in See’s own house and provided his apparent mental well being concerns.

Yale Law School professor Stephen Wizner explained in a Sunday e-mail to the News that the assortment of genuine actions taken by law enforcement in response to a breach of a protective purchase may possibly vary based on the certain type of order in query.

“It is conceivable that the purchase that was issued in favor of See’s husband towards See prohibited See from allowing his husband into the family members residence,” Wizner explained, including that he could not comment more especially with out seeing the real order. “It does seem to be odd that See would have been arrested in his own home.”

Brown stated any death in police custody merits scrutiny, notably due to the reduce over his left eye See sustained even though police were arresting him. Even though the health care examiner has ruled out trauma from the injury as the lead to of death, Brown said the lower is evidence of the violent conditions of the professor’s incarceration. He referred to as the police statement that See had lower his eye when he fell down a “dubious claim.”

In a press release last week, NHPD Chief Dean Esserman stated he had ordered an inner investigation into the circumstances surrounding See’s death in addition to the probe becoming carried out by the department’s Investigative Solutions Unit. Both investigations will incorporate a full overview of video from the detention center, which is administered by the state Judicial Branch, and interviews with all officers and state Marshals concerned.

Offered first police “negligence,” Brown stated, considerable doubt stays about the effectiveness of these investigations. He further queried the intentions of the NHPD by noting that information of See’s death was not released right up until three days after he was discovered unresponsive in his jail cell. Esserman apologized for the “late reporting” in his statement, calling it a deviation from standard process.

Brown said a couple of of See’s friends from the west coast will be attending Tuesday’s march. He said his message has also been circulating inside of the Yale community and via academic networks across the east coast because he very first announced ideas for the protest last week.

Protest to question circumstances of professor’s death

Police "try to hit students with batons" at protest - video

Video from a protest at the University of London’s student union appears to show police officers attempting to hit demonstrators by means of a gate. The video emerged right after allegations that officers employed needless force towards students taking part in protests on Wednesday. A police spokesman mentioned they had acquired no complaints

Police "try to hit students with batons" at protest - video

Five students at Sussex Uni banned from campus for "peaceful protest"

College students at Sussex University have been suspended for taking component in strike action. Photograph: Occupy Sussex

5 students have been suspended from Sussex University and banned from going on to campus. The choice has sparked an online petition, reaching 3,216 signatories at the time of writing, criticism from MPs on Twitter, and a planned protest at 1pm on Thursday afternoon.

In a letter sent to suspended pupil Michael Segalov, the vice-chancellor, Michael Farthing explains that “reviews have been brought to my interest that connect [these college students] with the recent occupation of the third floor of Bramber House”. He says these actions involved “disruptive and intimidating behaviour” on 3 December.

The suspended college students, now getting labelled the Farthing Five on Twitter, consist of Adraino Marotta, who is chair of the postgraduate association, Hichem Maafi, ethical and environmental officer, Lewis Nielsen and Michael Segalov.

The suspension, which was sent by e mail on Wednesday evening, has brought on outrage between students. On Facebook, 472 men and women have explained they will attend a protest on Thursday afternoon on a Facebook group.

John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, has supported the online petition, tweeting: “I have signed petition and tweeted it. I will be tabling early day movement in parliament in morning to help you.”

Michael Segalov says: “I’ve been sent an email explaining that I’ve been excluded from campus. I wasn’t on campus on 3 December, and I’m not positive which component of my cinema, pub and homework session was intimidating but I would be interested to uncover out.

“I never understand what I have personally carried out. And I never recognize what’s going on, because we haven’t been offered any kind of evidence.

“We have a campaign at Sussex which is ongoing and involves thousands of men and women – I’m one of people men and women and I am very vocal. It appears like they’ve picked out five students whom they wanted to make an instance of.”

Adraino Marotta says: “I’ve been suspended for protesting against privatisation on campus. I believe it is outragous and ironic that they reply to criticisms and demands for more democracy by suspending college students. I can truthfully say I did not assume this, or in any way see it coming.

“I have a doctor’s appointment on Friday in which I’m due to uncover out regardless of whether I have diabetes or not. I emailed Michael Farthing to get permission to go to the medical doctor and have had no response.

“If I go, I face becoming physically eliminated by safety because I’ve been banned from going anyplace on campus. That isn’t going to just imply review facilities – but from physicians, dentists and psychological services also.

“It truly is indicative of a concern that runs along strands of university management that they chose to suspended three student representatives.”

The Sussex students’ union has condemned the suspensions: “The students’ union believes that improper processes have been followed, and unjust reasons have been provided for the vice-chancellor’s actions.

“The students’ union firmly believes in the proper of college students to peacefully protest against practices they deem unfair, and condemns the intimidation of college students undertaking peaceful protest action by university management.”

John Duffy, registrar and secretary at the University of Sussex, says: “We have suspended and excluded from campus a number of students who, in the view of the University, were actively organising or top these unlawful occupations and connected occasions.

“We believe we had no other choice but to act to make it clear that actions that significantly disrupt our campus local community will carry consequences.

“We have excluded these college students to safeguard the interests of all of the students, employees and site visitors who are entitled to use the campus without fear of intimidation and serious disruption.

“All college students who attend the University of Sussex have given an undertaking to respect its principles and statutes and the University is below a duty to ensure those principles are properly enforced.”

Five students at Sussex Uni banned from campus for "peaceful protest"

Police officer "punches" student at University of London protest – video

A police officer seems to strike a protester in the encounter for the duration of a student occupation at the University of London’s Senate House on Tuesday. Three demonstrators have been arrested soon after a group occupied portion of the university developing in protest against private sector funding of the university, workers pay out and ideas to shut the student union developing. A single protester was being questioned by police on Thursday on suspicion of assaulting an officer

WARNING: This video consists of violence and powerful language

• 
  

  Dulcie Lee

  
  


• Supply: Guardian


• Length: 46 sec


• theguardian.com


• Thursday 5 December 2013

Police officer "punches" student at University of London protest – video

Police officer accused of punching student at University of London protest

The University of London’s Senate Home, exactly where students staged a sit-in. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Three pupil protesters were arrested on Tuesday following a group occupied a university developing in protest at how their university is currently being run. Police said one was held on suspicion of assaulting an officer, but the demonstrators also accused police of assaulting them.

The protesters mentioned they occupied portion of the University of London Senate Residence headquarters. Following currently being removed by police, they claimed they would proceed their protest at a central London police station, the place they believed their fellow protester was getting held.

Video footage noticed by the Guardian appeared to present a police officer punching a single hooded protester in the encounter. In the footage, the demonstrator – who mentioned his title was Tee Jay – fell to the ground and the crowd was pushed back.

Jay, 24, from Hackney, north London, explained: “Absolutely nothing was explained, the police had been trying to clear the crowd of individuals. I turned my back to [the police officer] to kind of walk away, he pushed, I type of turned round to see who it was – why are you pushing me?

“The punch came and I went straight to the floor, then I received up and left.” When asked whether or not he would consider action he additional: “What can I do? Appear how a lot of of them there are. If I go up to that one particular officer they’d all just grab me yet again.”

The University of West London mediaproduction student mentioned he was portion of the group that occupied component of Senate Property.

A single protester claimed she was pushed more than by officers, who have been “punching folks indiscriminately”. Philosophy student Helen Singh explained: “We had been walking away from the protest. I was pushed to the ground and my glasses smashed into 3 pieces.”

The University of London Union (ULU), launched a statement, which study: “We are still investigating what took place inside, but first reports indicate that protesters have been assaulted by each police and safety: thrown to the ground, kicked and punched, and dragged to the ground by their hair.”

And ULU President Michael Chessum wrote on Twitter: “Today’s eviction … was one of the nastiest, most brutal I have seen on a campus in a extended time. Spitting with anger.”

In a statement, the college students wrote: “Close to 60 college students staged a peaceful sit-in, issuing ten demands. Their demands integrated a halt to privatisation, fair pay out for staff and that a controversial program to close the pupil union is cancelled.”

In a statement launched earlier in the day, the college students claimed to have “taken over the principal management corridor and the vice-chancellor’s workplace in opposition to the way our university is getting run and the way the greater training sector as a total is managed”.

The statement read even more: “University of London management is behaving in a disgraceful and unaccountable method, and we have no selection but to take direct action.”

The Metropolitan police explained that one particular individual was arrested and held in custody on suspicion of assaulting a police officer. A spokesman explained that two other people have been arrested to stop a suspected breach of the peace and have been later on dearrested. The spokesman stated that an “approproate amount of officers” were sent to reposnd with the demonstration, which started at “around 14:45″.

Extra reporting by Dulcie Lee and Ben Jackson

Police officer accused of punching student at University of London protest

Bulgarian students lead wave of protest

Just following 1am within Sofia University, a handful of younger folks are spray painting protest banners in a dimly lit corridor. Upstairs in a lecture hall, and dotted all around nearby classrooms, fellow students are curled up on the floor asleep. Volunteers in yellow jackets are standing guard at the university gates.

It is the fourth week of an occupation. Hundreds of college students in a dozen institutions across Bulgaria have taken above all or parts of their universities, padlocking the gates and including a new dimension to a motion that has rapidly escalated into the biggest rolling wave of demonstrations considering that the collapse of communism 24 many years in the past.

One thing has snapped in Bulgaria this yr. Fury at corruption and nepotism, youth unemployment at 28.seven%, low wages and limited work possibilities that force competent Bulgarians to discover work overseas, and a sense that these in electrical power have for too extended place their own interests above individuals of the nation, have coalesced this yr into 1 long pulse of anger.

Public view polls propose that about two-thirds of Bulgaria’s 7.three million folks assistance the movement. “We have to attempt to get morals back into our political technique,” stated Mina Hristova, a 23-12 months-outdated cultural anthropology pupil. “We are here simply because we require to demonstrate our politicians that there are consequences to their actions.”

The state has resorted to bussing in supporters to confront the semi-everlasting street demonstrations that have choked Sofia this year. “We’ve gone via difficult times in the last 23 years, but we’ve constantly discovered a solution,” the foreign minister, Kristian Vigenin, advised the Guardian on a recent march.

The fury spilled out on to the streets in June when tens of 1000′s marched by means of the capital in outrage over the appointment of Delyan Peevski, a properly-linked media mogul, as head of the State Company for Nationwide Safety. Peevski had misplaced an earlier position as deputy minister of disaster management right after allegations of corruption.

For several in Bulgaria this was agonizing evidence of the nepotistic nature of their political program, which, in accordance to Transparency Global, is the second most corrupt between the 28 EU member states, beaten only by Greece.

Peevski’s resignation significantly less than 24 hours right after his appointment did practically nothing to quell the anger. As an alternative, protesters demanded the resignation of the centre-left government of the prime minister, Plamen Oresharski, which had been in office for just 6 weeks.

Oresharski told the people that it was also quickly to judge him, but each day considering that, protesters have gathered outside parliament to shout slogans and demand actual political alter. In late July, protesters clashed with riot police soon after a crowd of two,000 trapped government officials within the parliament constructing for eight hours. It was a single of the couple of nights that noticed bloodshed in an otherwise peaceful protest movement.

Following 5 months of protesting, in recent weeks it has been Bulgarian college students who have taken the lead, occupying their universities and organising the everyday protests outdoors parliament.

“Each a single of us had the feeling that anything was wrong from when we have been kids,” stated Ivaylo Dinev, a 24-yr-outdated background pupil and the informal leader of the student protests. “We’ve observed the influence of the mafia in politics all of our lives, no matter which celebration is in energy. What we need to have is genuine change. Prior to I was 18, I was a rebel without a lead to. Now I have a lead to.”

Inside Sofia University, handmade banners and indications inquire students to “talk large” and envision what they would do if they were in political office. Sleeping bags hang from close by coat pegs.On a raised platform at the front of the lecture hall, protest leaders discuss programs and techniques.

In accordance to Borislav Gavrilov, a professor of present day history at Sofia University, members of the former communist secret police continue to be in positions of power across Bulgarian society, wielding unfair influence and stunting the advancement of the nation. “They are all via the government, the economic system, the media – specially the media,” he explained. “Folks are sick and exhausted of fake modify. We had protests in 1997, 2009 – hopefully this is third time fortunate.”

“Trust in the government has now eroded to an unprecedented degree,” stated Daniel Smilov, a professor of political science at Sofia University, including that protesters have lost their faith in all the political parties. “The government complains that the protesters will not want dialogue, but it is unclear what the dialogue should be about, since the protesters’ main demand is new elections and the government refuse to take into account that,” he mentioned.

Final Tuesday, students clashed with riot police as they experimented with to form human chains close to the exits from parliament. Twenty-three protesters had been arrested, and the following day a additional 25 have been rounded up in their houses in an early-morning operation. “We have been just sitting on the ground in front of the police singing protest songs when they attempted to pull us apart,” stated Nona Keranova, a twenty-12 months-outdated law pupil, who was with some of the group who were arrested.

Keranova was not arrested, but she says she was dragged along the ground by a policeman and pushed up towards a wall. It was unknown folks later on in the evening, she additional, and not the college students, who clashed with the police and threw bottles at them. “We are attempting to alter factors peacefully,” she mentioned.

Not all the students are pleased with the occupation, which has shut down many of the university’s faculties, such as law and languages. Each evening the college students gather in one particular of the lecture halls to discuss the day’s pursuits and vote on essential measures.

College students who are not portion of the occupation are invited to come to talk and debate. “We try out to make clear why this occupation is essential, that it is up to us to maintain these protests going,” said 19-year-old Teodora Shalvardjieva, who started her studies in worldwide relations weeks just before the occupation began. “We can not stop this right up until the government resigns.”

Some are persuaded, but a lot of other folks just want to get back to their studies, fearful that the whole academic year will be forfeit if the occupation continues for significantly longer. On Monday it was announced that courses would resume shortly, but that the student occupation would remain in place.

Almost 10,000 refugees have arrived in Bulgaria this yr, most of them Syrians fleeing the civil war. The surge has fuelled xenophobic tensions and concerns more than violent attacks and the growth of rightwing events.

Final week the new Nationalist get together was formed, combining football hooligans, ultranationalists and skinheads, although yet another faction announced the creation of vigilante groups.

Bulgaria is the poorest member of the EU and several say it can’t assistance a wave of refugees. In a current poll, 15% said they accepted of violence towards foreigners, whilst 20% wished the border with Turkey closed.

November has witnessed a spate of attacks and protests against asylum seekers, and Amnesty has warned that “latest government statements threat inflaming the circumstance”.

Bulgarian students lead wave of protest

Letters: Police and the stifling of legitimate protest

Your front-page story that the police spied on the political routines of college students at Cambridge University (Undercover police target college students, 15 November) fits in with the way the police have prosecuted students protesting in excess of the last handful of years. Following the 2010 demonstrations against tuition costs, counter terrorism police have been utilized to method cautions in the police station. The police went on to charge far more than 60 college students of good character with violent disorder, the 2nd most significant public purchase charge, which carries with it an almost inevitable prison sentence on conviction. Fortunately, Alfie Meadows’s acquittal earlier this yr and the acquittal of the huge vast majority of individuals who went to trial, have gone some way to undermine the use of extreme charging by the police and prosecution.
Matt Foot
Solicitor, Birnberg Peirce &amp Partners

• We the undersigned unreservedly condemn the arrest of University of London union president, Michael Chessum, for allegedly organising a demonstration apparently contrary to the Public Purchase Act (G2, 19 November). This arrest coincides with the revelations that Cambridge police have been attempting to pay out students to inform on fellow pupil “activists”, and follows the arrest of a pupil activist in the 3Cosas campaign in the ULU developing itself. We think it is time to reiterate the fundamental place that universities are centres of studying and we condemn the growing part of the police on university campuses to stifle genuine protest.
All names in a personalized capability
Molly Cooper Unison Better London women’s rep support group executive Max Watson Unison NEC and London Met Uni Unison branch secretary, Sandy Nicoll SOAS Unison branch secretary and London region standard seat, Unison greater schooling service group executive, Simon Deville Branch secretary, Birkbeck Unison, Sean Wallis President, University School London UCU, Secretary London HE UCU, UCU NEC, Louise Lambe Unison HE member, Yassin Benserghin UCL Unison vice-chair, Gyta Nicola Branch secretary IOE Unison, Des Freedman Secretary, Goldsmiths UCU, Ulrike Sommer UCU departmental rep for the Institute of Archaeology, Tom Hickey Chair, UCU co-ordinating committee, David Hardman London Met UCU membership secretary, Jacqueline Sheehan Branch chair UCL Unison, Dr Laurie Stras Southampton University UCU exec committee member, Marian Mayer Vice chair BU UCU, Dr John Fry Department of physics, University of Liverpool, Mark Campbell London Met UCU (chair), UCU NEC, Daragh O’Reilly Manager, marketing and cultural industries division, Management College, University of Sheffield, Sophie Hope UCU Birkbeck branch secretary, Mike Lammiman VP University of Hull UCU, Dr Karen F Evans Senior lecturer, division of sociology, social policy and criminology, University of Liverpool, John Baxter UCU co-ordinating committee member, Sheffield School, Mark O’Brien Membership secretary, University of Liverpool UCU, Marian Mayer Vice-chair, BU UCU, Javed Khanzada Unison HE member, Lesley McGorrigan UCU, NEC member and Yorkshire and the Humber regional secretary, Ciara Doyle UCU, Kath Owen Yorkshire &amp Humberside Unison service group executive, Dr James Chiriyankandath Senior research fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Research, College of Innovative Research, University of London, Dr Geoff Williams UCL UCU Instant past (joint) president, Dr Andy Higginbottom Principal lecturer, worldwide politics and human rights, Kevin Moloney, Cliff Snaith UCU London Met secretary &amp UCU London region secretary, Louis Bayman Division of movie scientific studies, Oxford Brookes University, Richard McEwan UCU NEC, Dr Sue McPherson Sheffield Hallam University UCU branch officer, Pauline Croft Professor of early modern day background, Royal Holloway, University of London, Professor John Newsinger, Andy Coles UCU research coach at University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University, Graham Mustin Joint branch secretary, Barnsley University UCU, Dr Julie Hearn Department of politics, philosophy and religion, Lancaster University, Dr Jennifer Fraser UCU Birkbeck branch, joint president, Linda Milbourne Birkbeck UCU, Dr Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick Senior lecturer, department of management, Leo Zeilig, Hewal Sores UCU equality officer, Bradford College, Dr Mark Abel UCU University of Brighton, Allister Mactaggart UCU branch chair, Chesterfield University, Laura Miles Chair, Yorkshire and Humberside regional council UCU and UCU NEC, Anthony Leaker Lecturer in humanities, University of Brighton, Matthew Raine Birmingham University Unison branch secretary, West Midlands region general seat, Unison increased training services group executive, Dr Chris Cocking Senior lecturer, Dr Saladin Meckled-Garcia Vice-president, UCL UCU, David Graeber, Jonathan Gilhooly Lecturer, Brighton University, Professor David Oswell Head of division, division of sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London, Alex Colas Birkbeck UCU, Professor Raphael Salkie College of humanities, University of Brighton, Louise Purbrick UCU member, University of Brighton, Professor Gargi Bhattacharyya UEL, Alberto Toscano Department of sociology, Goldsmiths, Patrick Connellan Branch secretary, Nottingham Trent UCU, Helena Reckitt Senior lecturer in curating, department of artwork, Goldsmiths, University of London, Kalbir Shukra Goldsmiths UCU

Letters: Police and the stifling of legitimate protest