Student protest

Student protest encompasses a wide range of activities that indicate student dissatisfaction with a given political or academic issue and mobilization to communicate this dissatisfaction to the authorities (university or civil or both) and society in general and hopefully remedy the problem. Protest forms include but are not limited to: sit-ins, occupations of university offices or buildings, strikes etc. More extreme forms include suicide such as the case of Kostas Georgakis' protest against the Greek military junta of 1967–1974.

Student Protests in the United States in 2011

When the Occupy Movement started in July 2011 it was inspired by the Arab Spring and world wide longings for democracy. Although the protesters focused their attention initially on their dissatisfaction with Wall Street it spread to issues like fighting tuition increases that cause social inequality. On November 9th the Berkeley campus Police beat Occupy protesters that were peaceful but refused to leave the Berkeley university campus. The brutal act of the police was filmed by an observer and published on YouTube which lead to more public awareness and coverage by local and especially national media. On November 15th the police shot a student who carried a gun in his hands. The suspect was later transferred to a nearby hospital. Although this shooting is not related to the protest movement students became terrified by this incident. Since the Protests of 1968 there have not been similar enduring protests by students that were very largely discussed and covered by the media.

Student Protests in China

Probably the best known, and in the Chinese media, most censored student protest and democratic movement was the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 also known as the Tiananmen Square massacre where hundreds of protesters were killed in China.

Student Protests in Europe

In recent years in Europe students in the UK, Germany, France and Austria protested against social inequality caused by rising tuition fees. In Germany the massive nationwide protests were organized through social media sites and blogs. The recurring protests led to a political debate between the leading coalition in Germany consisting of two parties the Christian Democratic Union (Germany) and the Free Democratic Party (Germany) on the on side and the opponents consisting of the Alliance '90/The Greens, the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the The Left (Germany) on the other side. As a consequence in one German federal state, in Hesse, study fees were repealed and in another federal state in North Rhine-Westphalia a repeal will take effect this upcoming winter term 2011.

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