British students have rallied for weeks, protesting cuts to higher education that would raise tuition beyond what many can afford. College students, high school students and even elementary students have gotten involved, standing up for their ability to get an education.

"We are no longer that generation that doesn't care, we are no longer that generation to sit back and take whatever they give us. We are now the generation at the heart of the fight back," said 15 year-old protester Rodney Owen McCarthy.

But because some of the protests have gotten violent, with some police even being accused of assaulting protesters, London's Metropolitan Police Commissioner is proposing martial law be enforced and students not be allowed to protest.

But Aaron Porter, president of the U.K.'s Student Union, has stood up to denounce the suspension of freedom of speech.

"Peaceful protest is an integral part of our heritage and it is the responsibility of the police to help facilitate that," said Porter.

We here at Change.org stand with the students' right to voice their opinion, and demand that the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, which oversees higher education in Britain, support the students' right to peacefully protest funding cuts.

A democratic society means ensuring that everyone has a voice, even when listening to all the competing voices gets difficult. Silencing any voice is a threat to the entire society.

Photo credit: Andrew Moss Photography