Greens slam attempted Glasgow Uni eviction
For immediate release 22 March 2011
Patrick Harvie, Glasgow's Green MSP and Cllr Martha Wardrop today condemned the attempted eviction of students from Glasgow University's Free Hetherington, formerly the Hetherington Research Club. The Free Hetherington has been occupied by students since1st February in protest at education cuts and in support of free tuition. Cllr Wardrop was in attendance at the attempted eviction.
Cllr Martha Wardrop said:
"Students occupying the Free Hetherington are taking part in a vital protest. I was disturbed to see police taking an active role in the attempted eviction, which served to inflame a volatile situation. I telephoned Principal Muscatelli's office to convey my views and explain that heavy-handed eviction attempts will only worsen relations between university management and the student body. What is needed is a forum for calm discussion between the different parties and a recognition from university management that students and staff are rightly concerned about the future of higher education. They are not the enemy."
Patrick Harvie MSP said:
"I whole-heartedly support the actions of Glasgow University students who have taken part in a peaceful occupation of the Free Hetherington. They have chosen to act in response to the Tory-led ideological cuts which is set to wreak immeasurable damage in every area of public services. The Free Hetherington is a democratic space and a centre of solidarity for resistance to the ideological cuts agenda coming from Westminster, meekly passed on to Scotland by the SNP Government.
"Glasgow should be proud of its citizens who choose to take peaceful action to demand protection for our education, our health services, our libraries, and every aspect of our lives that is under threat from this new drive to privatise."