Students from Cambridge Stop The War protest against the government’s Prevent strategy and the climate of fear it creates
Cambridge Stop The War students protest at Lucy Cavendish College on 4 February.
Students and trade union officials staged a noisy picket outside a Cambridge college on 4 February, to protest a visit by the Education Secretary Nicky Morgan.
Around 13 students from the local branch of the Stop The War Coalition waved placards and chanted slogans outside Lucy Cavendish College, including “Education not surveillance, students not suspects”, and “squash the prevent”.
While their banners referred to a number of issues, including the military campaign in Syria, final year student Sam Fairbrother told the News the group was protesting at the government’s Prevent anti-terror strategy, which encourages teachers to report extremist behaviour.
He said: “It’s a racist policy, and it’s unnecessarily scapegoating young Muslims in schools and campuses, and causing a climate of fear.”
The protest was also attended by representatives from the Cambridgeshire branch of the National Union of Teachers.
Mrs Morgan entered the college through a rear entrance so did not come face-to-face with protesters.
Speaking after the visit, Tanya Brown, president of the college’s Students’ Union and herself an education PhD student, said: “We didn’t know there was going to be a protest, but I wholeheartedly support them.”
Source: Cambridge News
