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Thousands of students and protesters are set to march in central London on Wednesday in a major demonstration backing free education in England and Wales.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell will address a rally at the University of London before protesters march to Parliament Square and Conservative headquarters at Millbank – the scene of clashes between students and police during a demonstration in 2010.

The march, backed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as well as Mr McDonnell, will end at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Organisers the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts said Mr Corbyn's election as Labour leader had sparked a surge in student activism.

"The political climate is different now. We have a leader of the Labour party who is fully behind us, a re-energised activist base and a growing realisation among those involved that this has to be a starting point rather than an end it itself,” Deborah Hermanns, from the group, told the Guardian.

Mr Corbyn has previously called for “an end to the scapegoating and deportation of international students”.

Last night Jeremy Corbyn endorsed our national demo after we bumped into him on a bus. @JMorganTHE @jgro_the pic.twitter.com/IT20B6sZaF — Against Fees & Cuts (@NCAFC_UK) October 19, 2015

Ms Hermanns added: “We are not just marching for one day and for the abolition of fees. We are building a movement which can strike to win, just as other movements all over the world have won.”

Protesters were due to meet in Malet Street, Bloomsbury, at midday on Wednesday.