How do you feel about the student protesters attacking the car in which the Prince of Wales was riding?

I thought it was astonishing that University students in the UK would choose a target like Prince Charles to vent their wrath against. One would think that by the time a student reached University, they would understand that Prince Charles has nothing whatsoever to do with the decisions of the politicians in the country.

As far as non-violent protest methods, it is unlikely that UK educators place much positive emphasis is on the way that Gandhi led his country to the successful ousting of the Brits. Most countries, even the UK, tend to teach a version of history which makes them seem the "heroes" of pretty much any situation....and tend not to laud people like Gandhi whose non-violent protests were the first step toward the end of the British Empire and the Raj.

What is really too bad about the whole thing is that violence against people who have nothing whatsoever to do with the situation that is being protested accomplishes nothing except condemnation from onlookers. Another thing that is too bad about this incident is that the UK Royal Family are going to have to take a very hard look at the security around themselves.

For many years, they have been moving freely around the UK with very little security....now it appears that a "new day" has come to the UK....and that they are less safe from attacks from the populace than they were in the worst days of the IRA.

We spend a fortune in the USA on security for our governmental officials....it is too bad that the UK is now going to have to take a hard look at the safety of public officials and spend even more money to protect them.

Seems like the University students' efforts to protest government cutbacks has sortof backfired....as it is only going to result in a massive expenditure on security for all members of the government. I suspect that the Royals will pay for their own extra security...but the taxpayers are going to have to ante up for the extra security for the government members.

"I suppose Brits aren't familiar with the concept of non-violent protest that helped African-Americans gain civil rights during the 1960s".

I'm guessing that your academic specialisation isn't US or British history or politics. Or else you might know:

a) Brits have been protesting non-violently for a very long time. You might try looking up the Jarrow March, or the GCHQ union protests, the Aldermaston Marches, and the Peterloo Massacre protest, all of which contained strong non-violent elements.

b) Although the US Civil Rights movement was supported by the sometimes violent and socialist Black Panther movement as well as Martin Luther King. And those are not the only protests that have turned violent.

c) University Education isn't a "right" in the England (and this issue is about England, not the rest of the UK): you have to pass exams to get in.

d) Who do you think that Gandhi was non-violently protesting against? The Brits!

e) Advocates of non-violent protest who hold that protests generally don't advance their ultimate goals might want to look at the rather violent protest that was the American Revolution...

I suppose it just might be if you're facing violence, but otherwise rightful non-violent protest has much more embarrassment potential and that's often more effective. What is even sillier about attacking the Prince's car is that the vote had already taken place, just before 6 pm (the House of Commons sits early on Thursdays as Fridays are only for private members' business, which not many MPs stay for, and many want to get home to their constituencies to do some constituency work or be with their families).

The unfortunate thing about this kind of protest is that it will always get hangers-on who are just along for the kicks (pun intended). Violence never impresses the British government. IRA bombing didn't help the cause of Irish nationalism for 30 years.

Edit - Michael, William is not the Prince of Wales. His father is.

I doubt it will cause a backlash against the protesters, because those who already support them are not unlikely to be somewhat hostile towards the monarchy anyway. Of course violent protest isn't justified in this case, but I can think of some situations in which it might be: it would have been helpful, for example, if Germans appalled by the arrest and deportations of Jews had attacked a few Nazi government strongholds. We know that even one NON-violent protest -- by non-Jewish women married to Jewish men who'd been arrested -- had an effect, and the men were released. The Nazis were taken aback by just this one little demonstration and would probably have been given real food for thought by a couple of storming-the-barricades and breaking-a-few-heads riots.

I must admit that as an American academic and product of some extremely expensive US schools, I find it a bit difficult to muster a great deal of sympathy for the British students given how little they have been paying up to now. Education should be available to all qualified people, but as in the US, British students who need help can get bursaries (grants/scholarships) and loans.

It is an absolute disgrace dear Evie! You know, dear Charles phoned me in the middle of the kerfuffle looking for some advice. I told him to get out of that car and fight like a man! Instead he clung to the bosom of Camilla, which, I might add, is quite a comforting thing to cling to.

Nevertheless, when there are commies and anarchists roaming the streets of Westminster one must confront these hooligans head on, dear girl! I myself had gotten my coat on and was just about to emerge from the Palace to fight these ne'er-do-wells when my old war wound started playing up - bit of shrapnel lodged in the leg you see, terribly painful. One had no option but to go back inside and make oneself a cup of cocoa and curl up in front of Her Majesty's real log fire with the corgis.

Forget the Prince, consider poor Camilla. I am sure she felt like Marie Antoinette as the unruly mob roughed up her mother-in-law's Rolls. Talk about the perils of Pauline! Camilla truly deserves one of those war medals the Royals bestow upon one another.

The general public is angry and it gives fuel to more unscrupulous protests.

The government lied to the young people of our land. The anger is to be expected.

Unfortunately the people protecting Charles and Camilla were rubbish. The should have known there was danger.

But WHAT do the government expect? THEY LIED.

We need to be more like the French.

good, that man and his family get paid millions of our taxes while we have to cut welfare and education and hospitals and police. absolute joke, shame it was just his car that got kicked the **** in.

I honestly feel that royalty should be abolished, Uk should become a republic.

It's ridiculous we still have "Kings and Queens"!

I found it hilarious and I'm english

Hehehe :)