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Cameron condemns student violence

A Student protest board is burnt in Westminster after a bill was passed by the coalition government which will increase university fees by up to £9000.00 per year in London December 09 2010.This is the fifth student protest in the last month with escalating violence and protests across the country. UPI/Hugo Philpott
1 of 2 | A Student protest board is burnt in Westminster after a bill was passed by the coalition government which will increase university fees by up to £9000.00 per year in London December 09 2010.This is the fifth student protest in the last month with escalating violence and protests across the country. UPI/Hugo Philpott | License Photo

LONDON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The violence that greeted a move to increase college tuition in Great Britain "is totally unacceptable," the British prime minister said.

British lawmakers narrowly passed a measure Thursday that would dramatically increase university tuition. Rioters in the wake of the vote broke the windows of a car carrying Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker Bowles, who were uninjured in the incident.

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British Prime Minister David Cameron said the British people are entitled to express themselves peacefully and in public but the demonstration-related violence Thursday was "totally unacceptable."

"It is clear that a minority of protesters came determined to provoke violence, attack the police and cause as much damage to property as possible," he added in a statement. "They must face the full force of the law."

Cameron defended the tuition raise, saying it would open British universities and improve the education system.

"They will create a dynamic university sector that can compete with the very best in the world," he said of the increase, which is planned for 2012.

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