London:
Thousands of university students and young people across the United Kingdom took to the streets on Tuesday to demonstrate against proposed hikes to British tuition fees.
Most demonstrations were peaceful but a group of demonstrators at Trafalgar Square in central London repeatedly clashed with riot police.
Protesters pushed against lines of riot police and some threw objects at officers, who responded with batons. No serious injuries were immediately reported.
Police said they made 153 arrests during the protest in central London.
Police said the mass arrests followed repeated requests to leave the square, where demonstrators vandalised Nelson's Column and attacked nearby stores.
They said most of the demonstrators were arrested for breach of the peace.
At other university campuses across Britain, thousands of young demonstrators marched in protest of the government's plans to raise tuition fees. Some attempted to occupy local council offices.
Students are furious over the coalition government's decision to allow universities to charge up to nine thousand pounds (14-thousand US dollars) per year in a bid to reduce the burden on Britain's debt-laden public sector.
British students currently pay up to three thousand pounds (4,675 US dollars).
"The right to higher education should always be determined by how much you want to learn and how much you want knowledge rather than how much your parents have," one protesting student told Sky News.
Earlier this month, activists tried to ransack the governing Conservative Party's headquarters in London in a dramatic protest, touching off a wave of demonstrations and sit-ins.
Crowds were smaller than last week's nationwide protests and the first mass student demonstration held in London on 10 November.
As evening fell on Tuesday, protesters jumped up and down in the freezing cold in Trafalgar Square, where Nelson's Column had been defaced with graffiti.
In the northern city of Sheffield, police guarding the constituency office of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg shrugged off snowballs as they faced off against about 200 protesters.
Clegg - the leader of Britain's Liberal Democrats - has come under particularly stinging criticism over the proposed tuition hike. His party, which once enjoyed strong student support, had pledged to oppose any such move - only to renege on the promise once it joined the Conservative Party to form a coalition government.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday students had "a responsibility to know the full facts about what they are objecting to."
He said in a statement that the increase in tuition fees was a solution that was "fair on the taxpayer in a time of financial anxiety". He also said it was "fair on the student, who will get better teaching and it's fair on the graduate, who will pay when they can afford it."
Back on the frozen streets of the British capital, students weren't buying it.
"We're not in this to lose. This is the biggest fight of our lives, this is a fight for the very definition of what education is as a whole," another student protester told Sky News.
Rome also faced similar protests on Tuesday.
Police vans and lines of officers in riot gear blocked access to much of Rome's historic centre on Tuesday to keep thousands of student protesters from reaching parliament.
The police blockades prevented several lines of marchers from converging on the square outside the Chamber of Deputies and blocked bus and tram routes.
Riot police eventually followed closely behind the protesters on Via del Corso street causing the most violent group to disperse.
Lawmakers in Italy on Tuesday were voting on a contested reform bill which many students and professors say will give the private sector too much involvement in the state university system.
They claim funding cuts mean faculty positions are going unfilled.
Most demonstrations were peaceful but a group of demonstrators at Trafalgar Square in central London repeatedly clashed with riot police.
Protesters pushed against lines of riot police and some threw objects at officers, who responded with batons. No serious injuries were immediately reported.
Police said they made 153 arrests during the protest in central London.
Police said the mass arrests followed repeated requests to leave the square, where demonstrators vandalised Nelson's Column and attacked nearby stores.
They said most of the demonstrators were arrested for breach of the peace.
At other university campuses across Britain, thousands of young demonstrators marched in protest of the government's plans to raise tuition fees. Some attempted to occupy local council offices.
Students are furious over the coalition government's decision to allow universities to charge up to nine thousand pounds (14-thousand US dollars) per year in a bid to reduce the burden on Britain's debt-laden public sector.
British students currently pay up to three thousand pounds (4,675 US dollars).
"The right to higher education should always be determined by how much you want to learn and how much you want knowledge rather than how much your parents have," one protesting student told Sky News.
Earlier this month, activists tried to ransack the governing Conservative Party's headquarters in London in a dramatic protest, touching off a wave of demonstrations and sit-ins.
Crowds were smaller than last week's nationwide protests and the first mass student demonstration held in London on 10 November.
As evening fell on Tuesday, protesters jumped up and down in the freezing cold in Trafalgar Square, where Nelson's Column had been defaced with graffiti.
In the northern city of Sheffield, police guarding the constituency office of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg shrugged off snowballs as they faced off against about 200 protesters.
Clegg - the leader of Britain's Liberal Democrats - has come under particularly stinging criticism over the proposed tuition hike. His party, which once enjoyed strong student support, had pledged to oppose any such move - only to renege on the promise once it joined the Conservative Party to form a coalition government.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday students had "a responsibility to know the full facts about what they are objecting to."
He said in a statement that the increase in tuition fees was a solution that was "fair on the taxpayer in a time of financial anxiety". He also said it was "fair on the student, who will get better teaching and it's fair on the graduate, who will pay when they can afford it."
Back on the frozen streets of the British capital, students weren't buying it.
"We're not in this to lose. This is the biggest fight of our lives, this is a fight for the very definition of what education is as a whole," another student protester told Sky News.
Rome also faced similar protests on Tuesday.
Police vans and lines of officers in riot gear blocked access to much of Rome's historic centre on Tuesday to keep thousands of student protesters from reaching parliament.
The police blockades prevented several lines of marchers from converging on the square outside the Chamber of Deputies and blocked bus and tram routes.
Riot police eventually followed closely behind the protesters on Via del Corso street causing the most violent group to disperse.
Lawmakers in Italy on Tuesday were voting on a contested reform bill which many students and professors say will give the private sector too much involvement in the state university system.
They claim funding cuts mean faculty positions are going unfilled.
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