A horde of furious university students rocked London Wednesday and made headlines around the world. To be honest, we’re impressed.

A massive 50,000-student peaceful protest, which at times grew violent, shook the capital’s streets. Students in England aggressively reacted to proposed tuition increases that are a visible piece of the newly empowered Conservative Party’s austerity agenda.

And these demonstrations aren’t your run-of-the-mill European ‘our amazing welfare system is becoming negligibly less generous’ protests. In England, attending a university was free until 1997 ‘ it’s still free in many European Union countries ‘ and Prime Minister David Cameron plans to triple tuition.

That said, university students in England only pay around 3,000 pounds now ($4,800 ‘ and that’s anywhere in the country). But Tory Party austerity reform would jack fees to 9,000 pounds, or $14,800 a year.

Now, your knee-jerk reaction ‘ as an American student watching Britain-wide riots over having to pay what is considered cheap in this country ‘ may not be favorable. But try to imagine your tuition suddenly tripling, or even the $10,000 increase they’re getting across the pond, on top of your current mound of college-related costs. Now imagine that same explosion in tuition in the midst of a nationwide debate over whether students should have to pay for college at all.

When the Liberal Democrats acted as king makers in England’s national election over the summer, they ran on a platform that included repealing all university tuition and heavily courted the youth vote, but have since largely reneged on their campaign promise. Students rightly feel betrayed ‘ the fury and candor of their protests reflect that.

We’re astounded by the level of organization of students across England. Several national student groups used word-of-mouth coordination and social networking tools to set up what became a massive national expression of youth anger. Petitions are circulating, sit-ins are ongoing and future protests are in the works.

We’re equally surprised by the passion of the protesting masses. As students marched through London Wednesday, they gathered in front of a building that houses Conservatives’ headquarters. Taking advantage of an underprepared London police force, students stormed the tower, smashed windows and started fires on the sidewalk. A little over-the-top, perhaps, but witnessing the fervor over education policy in England has us thinking about our own situation.

Though it’s not an entirely apt comparison, we can’t help but view this entire episode from a New York perspective ‘ comparing London to Albany, English students to SUNY students.

Politically, the differences are unnervingly stark. The Conservatives in England promised severe fiscal reform and followed through. Though we disagree with their drastic policies on higher education, it’s at least refreshing to see that they’re capable of conceiving, and standing by, real reform.

Now imagine Albany producing any legislation with that level of substance. Albany ‘ arguably the most inefficient, corrupt and backwards state government in the Union ‘ is incapable of moving enough in any direction to even produce something visible to be furious about. Potentially revolutionary legislation like the SUNY Empowerment Act would truly change public education in this state, but legislation like that will never get passed, even if we wanted it to.

So, for students, though a direct parallel may be a stretch, we have only to wonder: If we were faced with a $10,000 tuition hike, would we start some fires?