FEE activist 'manhandled' by minister at NUI Galway protest

national | education | news report

Wednesday December 10, 2008 14:01

by Emma Beckett - Free Education for everyone

The student who was manhandled last night by Minister Eamon O Cuiv has called for an apology from the minister.

The incident took place during an anti-fees student protest at the visit of Ministers O Cuiv and Batt O’Keefe. The students attempted to block the ministers’ entrance to the university, adopting the slogan: ‘They are trying to block our access to college, so we’ll block theirs’.

One student was grabbed by the Minister who tried to push him from a railing. “I was on the other side of a railing!” the student said. “O Cuiv’s claims that we were squashing him into a corner are completely bogus. He was the aggressor; he came over and grabbed me. I call on the Minister to formally apologise to myself and the FEE campaign for his actions.”

Pictures of the protest clearly show that the Minister and his secretary were not being squashed and that O Cuiv assaulted the protestor.

The protest was called by the NUI Galway Students’ Union and was assisted by Free Education for Everyone (FEE). Free Education for Everyone is a campaigning group of students set up to fight the re-introduction of fees and for genuinely free education for all. FEE groups exist in UCD, Trinity, Maynooth, UCC, UL and NUIG. FEE activists have organised protests, occupations and blockades across the country over the past number of months.

FEE believes that university campuses should be a no-go-area for ministers like O Cuiv and O’Keefe. FEE is open to everyone that stands for truly free education and can be contacted at stopfees@gmail.com or on 0861986955.

http://free-education.info/2008/12/10/fee-activist-manhandled-by-minister-at-nui-galway-protest/
http://free-education.info/2008/12/04/fee-occupations-on-national-day-of-action/
http://free-education.info/2008/11/20/fee-cork-picket-education-department/
http://free-education.info/2008/11/24/150-tcd-students-protest-against-batt-o%E2%80%99keeffe-su-president-welcomes-him/
http://free-education.info/2008/11/26/trinity-news-a-significant-minority-are-seizing-the-initiative/