protest!!!!!

WAFFLES10

how do people feel the protest went today?was it a farse ? did it make diddly squat of a difference?

RoyalMarine

the carry on of some students was ****ing discraceful.

They should be removed from college.

WAFFLES10

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

the carry on of some students was ****ing discraceful.

They should be removed from college.

were WIT students involved in the riotitself? it sure doesnt look well, we are trying to express a mature voice outthere and back it u with immature actions ,

Saaron

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

the carry on of some students was ****ing discraceful.

They should be removed from college.

Completely agree!
I think the turn out was good, but some people just ended up giving us ALL a bad name.

Also, when they decided to sit out on Kildare St. they all just got up and left all their beer cans and cr*p on the ground.
I really thought they'd be more mature and pick it up.
Really made them look bad.

Not sure if the protest will make a difference but at least we tried.
Disappointed about what happened with the riot.
There was no need for people to be idiots.

WAFFLES10

Saaron wrote: »

Completely agree!
I think the turn out was good, but some people just ended up giving us ALL a bad name.

Also, when they decided to sit out on Kildare St. they all just got up and left all their beer cans and cr*p on the ground.
I really thought they'd be more mature and pick it up.
Really made them look bad.

Not sure if the protest will make a difference but at least we tried.
Disappointed about what happened with the riot.
There was no need for people to be idiots.

i had heard that it was a booze filled scenario , i was there and saw drunk people , thats incredible - we cant afford fees but we will take the day off to get hammered- attitude is rediculous, i know not all are like that but you never hear about the good just the bad , my pointis it didnt do alot but turn public perception against students

Saaron

WAFFLES10 wrote: »

i had heard that it was a booze filled scenario , i was there and saw drunk people , thats incredible - we cant afford fees but we will take the day off to get hammered- attitude is rediculous, i know not all are like that but you never hear about the good just the bad , my pointis it didnt do alot but turn public perception against students

Yeah I watched from the side with the rest of the crowd.
I was wearing one of the t-shirts and was mortified when they left all their rubbish. I had only walked by as I was hoping to get a bus... oops.
The fact some were drinking just makes it all seem less serious and believable.


I agree that people will only focus on the negative. I really thought it was going well until I heard about the riots etc.. Not surprised really.

Shame.

RoyalMarine

i completly agree it was worthwhile trying, and im sure it did some good, but the attitude of those scumbags just ruined the entire day / event for everyone.

and i hope none of them were from WIT.

AdMMM

Did the USI really not see this coming? Really? Was happy to sit this one out as I completely disagree with the march and what was inevitably going to happen...

MitchKoobski

When you try and rally support by arguing that "We're gonna stick it to these TD's!! SHOW THEM WHO'S BOSS!!" theres ALWAYS gonna be people who show up looking for a fight and to cause trouble, because they've been listening to people tell them for weeks to show em whos boss and dont take no for an answer. Rather than going up to protest against an increase in the fees, it was like a mass amount of students going up to take the Dáil and TD's head on in some sort of battle. Watching some of the students they interviewed on the news was cringeworthy. The question they asked was "why are you here today?".
"Because I dont wanna pay fees."
"Because the government want me to pay for education."
"Because we're here to take on the TDs!"

I've been on the last two protests, one in Cork and the other in Dublin, and they went fine. No trouble, march went ahead without problems. The numbers werent as big. Signing up for the march had to be done on pretty short notice, but when they were looking for people it was simply posters and a few lads saying "We need your help and support, please come out and march. We can't afford to pay fees. We want a free education like always." Had no problems whatsoever and was glad to march.

I had one student yesterday morning trying to get people to sign up come up to me and tell me to sign up "or my future is doomed."
I said I already signed up.
"Nah you're lying cmon sign up."
"Eh no I am signed up."
"Look if you dont sign up we cant help ya so sign up!"
"Yeah no thanks I'd rather not go now."
"Your future bud..."

I'm against the increase whole heartedly, and any riots or fights that were reported are up for debate given that there were other protesters in dublin today, but from my point of view many students going up didnt know why exactly they were going up and most seemed to just be there for the craic.

Ardennes1944

im from ucc myself, glad i went and only heard of the riots now, what exactly happened can ye tell me? shame about the drunk people but was always gonna happen of course unfortunately. was also disappointed with alot of people not willing to shout or make any sort of noise

Eroticplants

I thought the "take over" of the finance office was genius, they shouldn't have trashed the place but like look at what the french were doing, at least the government over there know EXACTLY how they feel about what's happening. Yes people will be going on about the shameful carry on of not picking up rubbish but dam it they are not the ones we should be caring about, it's Cowan, Lenihan and all the other fatcats. Mary Harney sure got the message and I think that today, the largest congrrgation of people in Ireland years got the point across that we're not happy and we won't stand for it.
We need more action like this in future.
Also ya'll are talking about the shameful behaviour of the students what about the police brutality? Youtube it, see how shameful the students actions were in comparision.
Anyways, rant over.

MitchKoobski

http://www.wsm.ie/c/students-storm-department-finance-dubin

Video included, rough stuff.

KeelanM90

I wasn't at the protest so I could be way off in saying this but from looking at the footage I didn't see one protestor trying to harm the gardai, yes a few bottles were thrown after protestors being thrown here there and everywhere but in my opinion it was a total overreaction by the gardai and every officer on duty yesterday should face some discipline if needs be! They were striking students who were causing no harm, which seems to be the attitude of our entire police force (that they can do whatever they like once in uniform)
To clarify I was never a fan of how the protest was being run as there was emphasis on bringing numbers instead of the most mature students up and most didn't know what we were fighting for, all they knew was they were fighting, which isn't the best mentality to go to a protest with!

WAFFLES10

Agreed there was little knowledge of what the proyest was actually about, and aparently it was left win groups who instigated the riots , however there is zero point in having a protest that size when the small few get all the headlines,

surely the USI and SU should seekother means of getting our views across , the march hasnt worked, the headlines are either neggative or about bye elections in donegal ,

also if someone is drunk and they are protesting injustice noone will listen , take that on board too.

AdMMM

WAFFLES10 wrote: »

Agreed there was little knowledge of what the proyest was actually about, and aparently it was left win groups who instigated the riots , however there is zero point in having a protest that size when the small few get all the headlines,

surely the USI and SU should seekother means of getting our views across , the march hasnt worked, the headlines are either neggative or about bye elections in donegal ,

also if someone is drunk and they are protesting injustice noone will listen , take that on board too.

Just a thought, but maybe if the USI didn't spend so much of their budgets on what are essentially piss ups, they could have afforded to consult with someone who actually knew how to tackle the situation. This is a PR disaster for the USI (which they should have seen coming from a mile off) and does nothing but harm the reputation of students nationwide, even those who profoundly objected to the actions of the USI.

At no point were the students given good solid arguments as to why a protest would be a good idea. Free Food seemed to be the talking point, as well as it being a great day out in Dublin. The possibility of some great post-protest parties in the clubs for those who wanted to make a night of it was also talked about.

Had I at anytime thought that this was going to be a well planned, well executed and wholly justified protest, I would have gone along. Instead, it was plain to see that it was going to be nothing but an opportunistic self-serving exercise for the leaders of the USI. Perhaps we should ask that no money from our registration fees goes to the students union next year? Might lessen the blow for us somewhat.

stick-dan

AdMMM wrote: »

Did the USI really not see this coming? Really? Was happy to sit this one out as I completely disagree with the march and what was inevitably going to happen...

completely agree.

ilikemusic

Any truth in the rumor that it cost the witsu over 20k to pay for all the students going to the march?

KeelanM90

ilikemusic wrote: »

Any truth in the rumor that it cost the witsu over 20k to pay for all the students going to the march?

Common sense says no! Think about it with every student paying a fiver going up thats €5000 how on earth could they manage to spend an additional €20000

ilikemusic

KeelanM90 wrote: »

Common sense says no! Think about it with every student paying a fiver going up thats €5000 how on earth could they manage to spend an additional €20000

return bus from Dublin printed t-shirts lunch X1000? seams like a lot to me too, but at the same time think it was probably more than 5k?