London's Burnin'

But not with boredom:

Tens of thousands of people joined forces in England Wednesday to protest a proposed plan to boost university tuition fees.

Hundreds of protesters attending a London rally to oppose the plan later turned riotous and stormed the headquarters of Britain's Conservative Party, smashing windows, clashing with police and bringing chaos to what began as a peaceful demonstration.

Nearly 50,000 people gathered for a march organized by Britain's main student and academic unions, the NUS and UCU, to protest the government's plans to allow universities to charge between $9,600 and $14,400 per year in tuition fees.

Tuitions are currently capped at $5,264, according to The New York Times. The proposal, announced last month, would also cut public spending by around $130 billion by 2015, the Times reported.

Britain's current government, a coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, said tuition hikes are needed to fill a gap left by cuts to university teaching grants.

The demonstrations kicked off peacefully, but trouble erupted when hundreds of people veered off to stampede the Conservative Party offices.

Chanting "Tory Scum!," the angry mob traded punches with cops in riot gear, set off flares, shattered windows and lit a fire in the courtyard of the building, Britain's Gaurdian reported.

...

As the violence escalated, police wielded batons, while the crowd threw placards, eggs and bottles at them, according to reports.

Part of the mob, which a witness told The Guardian was made up of mostly students and a few "old school anarchists," managed to climb onto the roof, while others used a fire hose to flood the building's stairwells.

Nothing like the anti-austerity protests on the continent, of course, but spirited nonetheless.

I think as more and more of these austerity plans go into effect and more and more cuts are made so that hedge fund managers can continue to live the Life of Reilly, we'll see more and more of this kind of thing.

I wonder what will happen when Obama puts through his own austerity measures here that will essentially decimate the middle and working classes and seniors so that corporate tax rates can be cut to 26%?

Tory scum indeed.