Demo police ‘got balance wrong’

The Tory party headquarters were targeted by protesters

The police response to Wednesday’s student protests in London “did not go to plan” but the blame lay on those who were violent, Nick Herbert has said.

The policing minister told the House of Commons that a small “hardcore” group had carried out the violence but the police would learn lessons.

Earlier Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the violence during the protests over university tuition fees.

The Met Police has announced an inquiry into how the protests were handled.

Fifty people who were arrested during the protests over planned university fee increases have been released on police bail until February.

The majority had been held for criminal damage and aggravated trespass.

Mr Herbert said that 41 police had been injured during the protests outside 30 Millbank – the Conservative Party headquarters in Westminster – on Wednesday.

He said that some of the 2,000 students circling the building had been encouraged by a small group to be violent.

Earlier Mr Cameron called the protests “unacceptable” and said there had not been enough officers to control the crowds.

He called for the “full force of the law” to be used against those who had been violent.

Windows were smashed, fires lit and missiles thrown at police after a group of protesters broke away from the main demonstration against a rise in tuitiion fees – of up to £9,000.

Some broke into the building itself, although hundreds of workers, including Tory Party staff, had already been evacuated.

He said he had seen what had happened while in Seoul, where he was attending a G20 summit.

“I was worried for the safety of people in the building because I know people who work in there, not just the Conservative Party, but other offices as well, and so I was on the telephone”, he said.

He said protests were a part of democracy but violence and law-breaking was not.

Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has said the police should have better prepared and called Wednesday’s events “an embarrassment”.

He said: “It’s not acceptable. It’s an embarrassment for London and for us.”

Police are continuing to examine CCTV footage of the incident.

The National Union of Students (NUS) said about 50,000 people joined the demonstration, but according to Scotland Yard, only 225 officers were initially drafted in to police it because no trouble was anticipated.

Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman said the party supported the inquiry and added: “We deplore the violence which marred an important demonstration which the tens of thousands of students who took part and their leaders had intended to be completely peaceful.

But shadow business secretary John Denham said the students had a legitimate cause and needed to be listened to.

Prime Minister David Cameron acknowledges there were too few police at the fees protests

He said: “Those parents and the students who were there yesterday have a legitimate cause that needs to be taken up and debated. We mustn’t allow the despicable action of some protesters to divert attention from a real issue.”

Hundreds of coachloads of students and lecturers travelled to London from across England, Wales and Scotland for the demonstration in Whitehall.

As well as higher fees, they were protesting against plans to cut higher education funding by 40% and to all but wipe out teaching grants except for science and maths.

However Mr Cameron said he would not abandon his plan to reform tuition fees to allow some institutions to charge up to £9,000 a year.

NUS president Aaron Porter said he believed members had “lost a lot of public sympathy” because of what happened.

But Clare Solomon, president of the University of London Student Union, predicted a growing wave of similar protests in coming months.

London Mayor Boris Johnson said he also hoped those responsible for violence “paid a serious price for their actions”.

Asked about his decision to sign an NUS pledge promising to fight any rise in fees, Mr Clegg told ITV1’s Daybreak: “I should have been more careful perhaps in signing that pledge. At the time I thought I could do it.”

But Shadow Commons leader Hilary Benn said Mr Clegg knew exactly what he was doing.

Angry scenes at Millbank Tower at student fees protest

“Before the election [the Lib Dems] made everything of their pledge to vote against the lifting of tuition fees, after the election they couldn’t dump it fast enough.”

Under the coalition’s plans, students would not have to pay anything “up front” and as graduates, would only have to pay back their tuition fee loans once they were earning £21,000 or more.

But the NUS and other opponents say the prospect of such large debts will deter young people from poorer backgrounds from going to university.

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