British Pupils Boycott Classes to Protest Youth Training Plan
Several thousand children boycotted school today to protest a government youth training program, and police detained 41 boys for rowdiness.
The children, including hundreds of sixth- and seventh-graders, marched in many communities across Britain, shouting slogans like “Maggie out!” in reference to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and “Down with youth training schemes!”
In Reading, on the western outskirts of London, police detained 41 boys between the ages of 10 and 14 outside a girls’ school. Hundreds of children who marched through the Welsh town of Caerphilly, hurling stones and insults, were herded back to school by teachers.
The protest was organized by militant socialists campaigning against a government youth training plan. They claim that the program, to encourage firms to give work to jobless teen-agers, is no more than a cheap labor scheme.
The organizers claimed that 200,000 children joined the action, but local news reports suggested that the turnout was lower. Reporters estimated that only 600 children went on strike in London.
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