Scottish students staging tuition fees protests

NUS Scotland says the proposals in England are not welcome north of the border.

Students are staging protests across Scotland over higher education cuts and proposals to increase tuition fees in England.

NUS Scotland organised a series of "local actions" in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Aberdeen and Dundee.

MPs are due to vote on Thursday on whether to raise fees in England to an upper limit of £9,000.

NUS Scotland said the proposals in England were not welcome north of the border.

Dundee University Students' Association (Dusa) are holding a "study-in" at the main library on Wednesday, when students plan to stay on past the library's midnight closing time for a "peaceful protest".

In the capital, NUS Scotland said 500 people took part in a march from Edinburgh University to the Scottish Parliament, while students across Glasgow have staged a lecture walkout and conducted a teach-in.

In Stirling, the university atrium was taken over for studying, and students and lecturers joined in "Christmas carols against cuts".

Aberdeen students also staged rallies outside the offices of Liberal Democrat MPs Malcolm Bruce and Robert Smith.

Meanwhile, NUS Scotland and University and College Union Scotland are organising a national rally and candlelit vigil outside the Scottish Parliament on the day of the Westminster vote.

NUS Scotland said protesters wanted to send a clear message to candidates in next May's Scottish Parliament elections that the proposals in England "are not welcome north of the border".

Invited speakers include Education Secretary Mike Russell and Scottish Green Party MSP Robin Harper.