By MELISSA MOXON
HAMILTON - Student protesters around the country are preparing for a series of sit-ins and rallies next week in protest at tertiary fees.
Following a noisy but peaceful protest in Hamilton yesterday, student leaders said that next Thursday they would hold a rally they hoped would become a "spontaneous" occupation of the Waikato University registry.
About 200 students marched through Hamilton, demanding the sacking of the chief executive of Work and Income NZ, Christine Rankin, and the hiring of more staff to process the backlog of student loans and allowances.
Statistics Winz issued yesterday showed that nationwide 24 per cent of allowance applications and 13 per cent of those for loans had still not been finalised.
The march was organised by a new national student organisation called Fightback! which has campaigned on the Winz loans debacle and is planning protests on campuses around the country to demand free tertiary education.
Eva Neitzert, an Auckland University Fightback! member, said students planned to picket the university's registry.
Canterbury University students hope next Tuesday to occupy their registry, depending on numbers and police presence, and students at other universities plan similar action on Wednesday and Thursday.
Hamilton protest organiser Heather Lyall said thousands of Waikato students could not buy books or pay rent.
Mrs Lyall said a rally would be held at Waikato University on Thursday which she hoped would result in a "spontaneous occupation" of the registry.
"There is a need to organise a mass movement for students to gravitate to. This is a long-term campaign," said Mrs Lyall, a member of the Socialist Workers Organisation.
Waikato University assistant vice-chancellor Jeremy Callaghan was unaware of the group's plans and said a sit-in would be ironic, as the university had "bent over backwards" to help students still waiting for loans and allowances.
"We've been very helpful and cooperative and I don't see what a protest will accomplish."
Yesterday's protest included an unusual venue, the foyer of the Hamilton City Council offices, which the protesters briefly stormed to challenge the user-pays philosophy of many council services.
They chanted "Christine Rankin needs a spankin" for a few minutes before they filed out.
The rowdy protest began at the Winz office in Grey St as students waved placards and chanted for more Winz workers to be hired to process the backlog of loans applications. There was a strong police presence, but the march finished peacefully an hour later.
Fightback! was formed after the Auckland University registry occupation last October and includes student unions, the Socialist Workers Organisation and Labour and Alliance groups.
Students pledge more tertiary-fees protests
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