Prince Charles attacked by rioters!

[Jennasis]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101209/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_tuition_tangle

Wowsers!

 

[handinpocket]

To be fair they attacked his car, not him physically. Either way it was stupidity.

 

[Robinrs]

Is this a CAPTION THIS photo or what???

 

[magicgirl]

The car was covered in paint and a window was smashed. I have no idea why the Royal Car was allowed anywhere near the protesting students. Thank goodness Charles and Camilla were not hurt.

 

[eliza61]

The car was covered in paint and a window was smashed. I have no idea why the Royal Car was allowed anywhere near the protesting students. Thank goodness Charles and Camilla were not hurt.

that's what I dont understand, talk about a breakdown in security.

they were protesting the increase in school tuition.

 

[dis-happy]

Shocked that a window was smashed. Wouldn't you think it would be bullet proof?

 

[eliza61]

Shocked that a window was smashed. Wouldn't you think it would be bullet proof?

very few guns in Britian. no one is shooting. Police need extremely special permits to carry a firearm. don't really need bulletproofing if there are no bullets.

 

[Planogirl]

Why are they attacking members of the royal family? They have nothing to do with price increases.

 

[eliza61]

Why are they attacking members of the royal family? They have nothing to do with price increases.

I think it was probably more of lashing out at a public figure who you feel has no clue as to how you are feeling.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Mobs don't think. Wrong place/wrong time.

 

[agnes!]

If the mob had really *wanted* to destroy that car and its contents, they probably would have. The whole incident is a shocking lapse in security.

I certainly hope that those who wish to do them harm weren't taking notes.

agnes!

 

[FireDancer]

they were protesting the increase in school tuition.

Yeah, I don't get all the outrage going on over there over tuition going up. My tuition increased every year I was in college. I realize it is a large increase they are proposing but it has been frozen for so long it is probably still way below our tuition increase over the last 10 or 15 years.

As for guns in Britain it is true they are hard to get for the law abiding but criminals don't care about what the law says and if someone wants to shoot someone they will find a gun and make it happen. Heroine and cocaine are also illegal both there and here but that doesn't mean there are no drugs.

I'm glad they are alright. I find having a king, queen, prince, princess, and so on ridiculous and extremely outdated in the 21st century but I don't wish them any harm, especially over something like this.

 

[laurie31]

Very sad.

I also don't understand the outrage. I'd be dancing in the streets if I thought my girls' college tuition would be that LOW!

 

[mrsv98]

that's what I dont understand, talk about a breakdown in security.

they were protesting the increase in school tuition.

If the mob had really *wanted* to destroy that car and its contents, they probably would have. The whole incident is a shocking lapse in security.

I certainly hope that those who wish to do them harm weren't taking notes.

agnes!

Their security is far different from what we are used to. I went to Cambridge in the 1990s and was an Overseas Scholar. Since Prince Charles also studied at Cambridge, he was at the Uni a few times per year. I was invited to a reception with other Overseas and Commonwealth scholars, about 300 people.

The reception was at Trinity where Prince Charles was a student, as being an American, as we walked through the narrow closes of the school, I automatically looked at the roof lines for police, nope, nothing there. I had been careful dressing so I wouldn't set the metal detector. Imagine my surprise when we walked right in. No one ever asked for an id or my invitation.

We milled around for a while and then suddenly he was there, walking amongst the students with only a "minder" to keep him from talking to one person for too long. I am sure there were some armed security but he came up to me and my friends and I could have pulled a gun before any of them was close enough.

It was just a surreal experience realizing that the future King of England was so "out there".

Anyway, don't mean to hijack, just wanted to give my perspective on the differences in security. I am glad the were ok and I think it was simply a case of wrong place wrong time rather than a specific attempt to harm them.

 

[moon]

Yeah, I don't get all the outrage going on over there over tuition going up. My tuition increased every year I was in college. I realize it is a large increase they are proposing but it has been frozen for so long it is probably still way below our tuition increase over the last 10 or 15 years.

As for guns in Britain it is true they are hard to get for the law abiding but criminals don't care about what the law says and if someone wants to shoot someone they will find a gun and make it happen.

How many people are gunned down each year in Britain vs the US?

 

[FireDancer]

How many people are gunned down each year in Britain vs the US?

Beats me but if it is any number greater than 0 it means it happens. If you are one of the victims it really doesn't matter if you are the only one, one of a thousand, or one of ten thousand.

 

[PaulaSB12]

Just checked they reported in 2009 that it had gone down to 42. As for why they are upset about the university fees at the moment Welsh and scottish students studying in wales don't pay university fees but british students do. Which is making for bad blood over it. It would be if your city made you pay but the next city gave its own free education. Also some universities have rules about how much if at all you can work. Lastly there are no scholorships to help with the costs none. It does worry me about how we are going to manage for doctors how many 18 year olds are going to want to study medicine if it means a £54,000 loan to just pay for the university fees. By the way I don't justify what these particular kids did, having seen the bunch in the last one they are probably being paid for by the bank of mum and dad but this is putting poorer kids from going to university. All of it driven by politicians who not only got a free education but got education grants and most of them claimed benifits during holidays as well so they got it all for nothing and now are making it impossible for many of the next generation.

 

[MoniqueU]

Well no one is going to agree with me but i am glad they are protesting a hike in rates. I wish some people here in the US would protest largely against the waste and taxes and fees we have here. I also think very little of the royal family exvept for Dianas sons so while I am glad no one was hurt it doesn't upset me that they were a target.

 

[tennisfan]

I think a lot of the backlash in the fee increase is that many government figures never had to pay for their degree as up until the late 90's university was free to all students.

What makes me laugh is that a lot of the lecturers are agreeing with the students with thier protest but what they seem to have forgotten is that they keep wanting an increase in salary & have gone on strike for it. Who is going to pay for the increase? the students. A bit hypocritical!

I think that yesterday whilst there was a severe lapse in security reagarding the royal family, many students broke free from the proposed route & sent the whol thing into caos, they will not be getting sympathy with their plight due to how some of them behaved yesterday.

To a PP, some universities offer scholarships, not to the extent as other countries but they do offer them

 

[NHdisneylover]

To the UK posters: Do you think some of the backlash is because people did not know to be planning on paying for university and saving for it since the kids were little, like we do in the US? To me that would be a big issue. If they said they would start with minor increases and make it bigger each year and in 15 years go to the full increases (so that the generation hit with that at least has fair warning to save) it would be easier on people. I am just curious what some of you think. Is that a valid issues people have? Or am I just making things up to amuse myself?