Some seventy students protested against the loan system on Tuesday in the ‘Ontloop-je schuld-mars’ (Decline-your-debt march). The students marched through the city centre in a procession that started and ended at the Academy building.
The protest was organised by the Groningen student union GSb and youth organisations FNV Y&U and LSVb. The youth clubs protested against the loans system this entire week under the hashtag #nietmijnschuld (not my debt). The actions are the run-up to a demonstration on the Malieveld on June 3.
There was music and the students carried protest signs. Students maintained proper distance by holding on to each other with barrier tape as they made their way through the city.
Participants also received cards on which they could write their frustrations about the loans system. The intention was to present these cards to the boards of directors of both the UG and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences. ‘We invited them’, says secretary Midas Bosman of the GSb, ‘but neither of them had time.’
That is why the cards have been deposited at the Academy building. ‘We hope that they were found there,’ says Bosman. ‘And that the lectures will speak out against the loan system.’
He hopes that this will encourage students to join the demonstration on the Malieveld. ‘So that we can show politicians that we are really fed up.’
