Cátia Antunes (1976), a history lecturer, has this advice: "The students should take a different line – do what the State doesn't want: disrupt the social order. That won't happen if everyone's sitting cosily together. It looks good, of course, but it's better to tell them 'Piss off; we're heading for Parliament!'

'The Dutch are very obedient, it's in their culture. I mean, look at the teachers' protest – they all went to the Arena stadium. In Southern European countries, they would have stormed Parliament. There's no security in the world that can stop 50 thousand people. It's easy to get in, and that applies to the Lower Chamber too, and the faculties in Leiden. .There's hardly any security and you can just occupy them – but that won't happen, especially not in Leiden."

Author Nelleke Noordervliet (1945), was at Leiden during the turbulent sixties: "Traditionally, Leiden is quite a boring community, not really involved. Provo (a rebellious, anti-authoritarian movement that emerged mainly in Amsterdam, ed.) hardly touched the Leiden students. When things really started to erupt in Paris in 1968 and when the the University of Amsterdam was occupied a year later, things slowly started to dawn on them.

"I went to see the riots in France, a revolution tourist as it were. The riot police were armed and on every street corner, but in Leiden we were merely bystanders of our own revolution. Once we went and stood on the steps of the Academy Building, all silent and threatening. I can't remember why, but the formal procession needed to pass and we stood aside and let them."

Jelmer de Ronde, the Vice President of the National Student Union says: "You have to let them know you don't like it. The parliamentarians need to see that their citizens are not happy, which is why we're organising protests this month. No, not in Leiden: we don't have a local office there and it's proved difficult to set anything up there. But any Leiden students who want to express their dissatisfaction should come to Dam Square in Amsterdam on Friday 23 March. We're still expecting a few thousand people to turn up. Do I think that will be too few, considering the government's drastic measures? I don't know. The Student Union considers this to be our task. 'Higher education is an investment.' The bill they have at present is more drastic than what was decided in coalition agreement. The people currently in charge must be made to see that enough's enough."

Huib Drion (1917-2004), hero of the resistance and Professor of Law, (speaking in the Mare issue of 8 May 2003): "It was mainly a coincidence and the relations between the sexes that I became the Chairman of the department of the Comité van Waakzaamheid (that warned against national-socialism on the eve of the Second World War, ed.). That committee was a national organisation and my father was on the Board of thedivision in The Hague. At a certain moment, there was a special student conference to setup committees at student level. Hundreds of students came from Amsterdam to be there,but only three from Leiden – Leiden students are not very engaged in politics: two young ladies and myself. I was the only man and without any discussion it was decided that I would be the Leiden chairman. Very typical of the time."

Lena Scheen (1974), lecturer of Chinese: "I can't understand this current generation of students: there is now more reason than ever to protest and they hardly do anything at all. When I was at secondary school, I was active in leftwing circles in The Hague. At the time, going on demonstrations was almost a hobby. When I went to study in China for a year, a friend and I went to lay some flowers on Tiananmen Square, which was very naive of course, because we were immediately arrested by the police. But this incident made me aware that we mustn't underestimate our right to demonstrate. As long as students have a voice, they should use it."

Antunes adds: "The State does not always do what is best for everyone, or fair. If the riot police are charging at you and they're prepared to use force, just start lashing out. If you are closed in and attacked, you're allowed to punch them."

Noordervliet says: "I'm not saying that some students shouldn't put a little more effort into their courses, but I'm saddened by the fact that the current changes are based exclusively on financial reasons and business motives. However, the protests in 1968 had such an impact because the authorities did not know how to deal with them. Now they do. They supervise it all, repressing and steering it all in the right direction. That's why they don't have so much impact anymore."

Antunes continues: "I was at Lisbon University where there were quite a few rightwing professors. When they opposed the legalisation of abortion in 1994, the fat hit the fire. At first we did silly, mean childish things: letting the air out of tyres, writing on windows with lipstick and nail varnish. Things started to turn nasty when the University Board decided that students who had abortions would be dismissed from university, if the bill was passed. We went on marches to occupy Lisbon, and we partially succeeded. The riot police were sent to deal with us – in Portugal, they are tough men who have fought in the colonies in Africa, not exactly what you'd call choir boys - intent on beating us up. When they had got us surrounded, we picked up stones from the ground and threw them; we hit them with dustbins and bit them in the parts where they wore little protective clothing. I was thrown into a van, where I was beaten up more than anyone else, because nobody could see it happening. I spent two weeks in hospital."

De Ronde: "Demonstrations should stay within the law. There is never a 100-per cent guarantee that nothing will go wrong. But that's because demonstrations always attract people who just want to riot. We have an excellent democratic system that we should respect. Do I think that civil disobedience might be necessary sometimes? I'm not a lawyer; I don't know exactly what that means."

Antunes recalls: "After that, any excuse would do for me to take them on. I joined the protests when they introduced tuition fees and demonstrations to allow people without any identification to retain the right to medical care. Important issues, of course, but I thought: 'Now it's my turn.' I was prepared, I took a baseball bat. I was taken to hospital again, but so was the lad I beat up. My mother didn't like it when I went abroad to study, but after the next protest march, she rang me up: 'I'm so glad you're abroad. I won't have to go looking for you.'"

A national rally will be held on Dam Square in Amsterdam on 23 March