Students ban military from London university

London: Students have voted to ban all military personnel including cadets from a leading London university.

The snub was delivered at a students' union meeting which condemned the "British military" for waging "an aggressive war overseas".

The union motion, passed on Wednesday night, prohibits the military from setting up recruitment stalls at freshers' fairs and severs all links between the Officer Training Corps and the students' union at University College London (UCL).

The decision will add further fuel to a growing row over the treatment of military personnel in Britain. It emerged that servicemen and women at RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire had been ordered not to wear their uniforms in public after months of verbal attacks in nearby Peterborough.

Brown outraged

Leading politicians described the ban as deeply insulting and misguided. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke of his outrage that British servicemen could be treated with so little respect. He said: "I condemn absolutely any members of the public who show abuse or discrimination to our armed forces."

The UCL motion, proposed by Sham Rajyaguru, stated: "This union believes that because the British military under the Labour government is currently engaged in an aggressive war overseas, for the union to use its resources to encourage students to join the military or participate in military recruitment activities at this time would give political and material support to the war."

The resolution was passed by around 80 to 50 votes.