An unprecedented wave of student activism is sweeping through Cambridge, with many students taking part in a number of protests and demonstrations in the last few weeks.

Anger has been directed at government proposals to cut higher education spending and the raising of the cap on tuition fees to £9,000.

With the violent turn of the National Union of Students (NUS) demonstrations in London on Wednesday, in which Cambridge students participated, student activism has taken on greater importance and increased national scrutiny.

The past week alone has seen three student-run demonstrations, with a fourth, held in conjunction with trades unions, held on 23rd October.

The protests have attracted a varying degree of support from Cambridge students.

Last Friday, the Cambridge University Students Union (CUSU) claimed that over 400 students marched to show their support in the student protest in Cambridge. The demonstration was described as having attracted a "record turnout."

CUSU President, Rahul Mansigani, described the protest as "definitely a success".

He added, "Given the weather we think it was an extremely good turn-out, one which is up there as one of the highest student turn-outs in terms of student union-organised protests against the education cuts and fees."

However, official police reports place the number of protestors who stayed for speeches at only 200.

Some students present at the protest decried the apathy of the majority of the student population, with one Clare student disappointed with attitudes: "People were like ‘yeah, I care but I’ve got to work’, or ‘I need to pass my degree’, and it’s like, well people aren’t even going to be going to university if these cuts go through."

Other students urged for more radical action to be taken in response to the cuts and rise in fees, telling Varsity: "We need a bit more militancy. We need a bit more than just writing to MPs and things like that. Whether we’re at the stage of burning things down yet, I’m not quite sure but militancy’s not a bad thing."

Alan Davis, branch chairman of UNISON for the University of Cambridge highlighted that it is not only students, but people who work at universities who will be affected.

"I think not only students but also my workers who work in lower paid jobs within the University of Cambridge, everyone who’s involved in higher education who believes that this is wrong, need to be out on the street and getting their voice heard."

He added, "Don’t sit in the warm, let’s get out, get wet, get friendly and get the message across."

Juan Zober de Francisco, a third-year student at King’s, conceded that "a couple of people came just because they like being radical and they try to champion socialist things," but added that "there are a lot of students here who don’t agree with that."

Other events happening in Cambridge, disconnected from the higher education debate, suggest that student activism is on the rise.

Last Saturday, students were among 35 activists who occupied and forced closure of the Vodafone outlet in the Grand Arcade.

The demonstration was organised by the Cambridge Action Network (CAN) as part of a nationwide protest against Vodafone’s alleged £6 billion tax exemption.

Bea Patrick, a member of the Cambridge Action Network and a second-year student at Newnham, told Varsity, "We walked into the Vodafone store in the Arcade and started handing out leaflets and chanting, informing customers of the tax dodge.

"When asked to leave by the store employees, we peacefully sat down and continued chanting," she recounted.

Since the Vodafone store is situated inside the privately-owned Grand Arcade, security guards soon notified the police, who told protestors to leave or face arrest for trespassing.

A third-year Philosophy student at King’s, who wished to remain anonymous, told Varsity, "We were demonstrating to say that the Government should be coming down hard on corporations like Vodafone as opposed to making cuts that hit the poor and the vulnerable."

He added, "The people we spoke to were highly supportive, expressing their anger at the Government’s prioritising of corporate interests over public interests."

The largest protest, by far, took place on Wednesday, November 10th, when nearly 400 Cambridge students joined an estimated crowd of 52,000 people taking part in the national student demonstrations in London. As the protests took a violent turn, Varsity reporters were on the ground to report throughout the day.