The lost march

December 3, 1999

We are writing on behalf of all students from the University of Plymouth who took part in the March for Education in London on November 25.

As it is more than 150 miles to London, we had to leave Devon at 5am, after spending the evening before making banners in the misguided belief that our march would appear on television.

Our student union spent more than Pounds 1,200 to give students a chance to voice their opinion in an organised way.

During the march we caused absolutely no trouble, even to the extent of ignoring a faction's attempt to turn the march around. In short, everyone made a concerted effort to show our aim was not to cause trouble but to display our solidarity on the issue of student hardship to our government.

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Understandably we are all extremely confused at the lack of coverage of the event. A mis-captioned picture stating that there were "about 7,000 students thought to have taken part" (there were more than 15,000 students on the march) was all we could find.

When the anti-capitalist march makes headlines while our demonstration does not even get covered, it belies any proposition that a peaceful protest makes a successful protest.

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Gaby de Pace Simon Vannerley Campaigns officers Exeter University Student Union

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