Scuffles as 20,000 students march

Students demonstrated their anger over tuition fees today as they marched through London, leaving the Government in no doubt that they will not willingly pay more for their education.

An estimated 20,000 took to the streets of the capital in the biggest student protest for 20 years.

Waving placards and banging drums they directed their anger at the Prime Minister - said to be keen to let universities charge higher fees. They chanted: "Put your hands in the air ... if you hate Tony Blair."

The mood of the marchers was cheerful, despite heavy rain, and the demo remained largely peaceful. But shortly after 1pm a standoff developed between police and a breakaway group of about 50 students who staged a sit-down demonstration blocking northbound traffic on Waterloo Bridge.

Minor scuffles broke out as officers attempted to prevent other students on the main march joining the group, which was led by the Socialist Worker Students Society.

The march, from Malet Street off Euston Road to a rally in Kennington Park, brought central London to a standstill. The AA said it was a "terrible day for motorists" as it moved through central London - and thousands of drivers were forced to find alternative routes.

Coachloads of students had travelled from as far as Newcastle, Southampton and Aberdeen to take part and by 12.45pm a crowd stretching back at least a mile was winding its way through Bloomsbury, the heart of London's academic community, towards the West End.

Ministers are due to publish proposals next month which are expected to mean students will have to pay more towards the cost of higher education, as the Government struggles to rescue universities from a mounting financial crisis. They are still arguing whether students should pay more in up-front fees - currently capped at £1,100 - or in the form of a graduate tax.

But many of the students today carried placards protesting at the weight of their debts, and claiming higher fees would create a two-tier university system.

Will Straw, son of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, and President of the Oxford Student Union, said: "High fees will deter students from lower socio-economic groups."

When asked what the way forward-was, he said: "We believe in progressive taxation to pay for higher education."

Stewart Halforty, 22, a politics graduate at Goldsmith's College in New Cross, said: "I owe £8,000 to the Government and £1,500 to the bank in student loans. We have already accepted that we will be forced to pay for our education, but we do not want a two-tier system where people who can afford it will go for arts courses and those who cannot will feel obliged to take vocational courses."

Andy Crane, 19, studying politics and economics at Bath, said: "In the corridor of the halls of residence where I live there already a lot of students who had to start working before they got to university in order to have enough money to pay for accommodation, books and food. Top-up fees are just going to make things worse."

NUS president Mandy Telford said higher fees would "cripple our higher education system".

"With fees at this level, it is clear that many people will not be able to afford university in the future," she said. "While the top-up fees debate continues, we must not forget that the cost of being a student already prohibits many people from going to university."

Speakers at today's rally in Kennington Park were due to include fireman's leader Andy Gilchrist. Ms Telford said the NUS was supporting the pay demands of striking firefighters. "We must stand together against the Labour's divide-and-rule tactics," she said.

Labour had ruled out top-up fees in its manifesto in the last general election, she added: "We are asking them to honour their pledge."