Student leaders condemn violence as protesters smash windows and scale roof of Tory party headquarters
"We stand against the cuts, in solidarity with all the poor, elderly, disabled and working people affected," read the message, quickly circulated among a thousand rioting students in the forecourt below, who had run out of windows to smash and gathered around smouldering fires.
"We are against all cuts and the marketisation of education. We are occupying the roof of Tory HQ to show we are against the Tory system of attacking the poor and helping the rich. This is only the beginning."
If that proves to be true, the coalition government will be bracing itself for the type of violent unrest that has not been seen in the UK for decades.
The chaotic scenes in the lobby of 30 Millbank this afternoon, where brawling protesters overpowered thin lines of police, was unprecedented for a student protest, and considerably worse than the damage to an RBS building by activists at last year's G20 demonstration.
Office workers were evacuated from the building as windows were shattered with rocks and sticks and CCTV cameras were ripped from the ceiling. Parts of the building were ransacked; protesters used furniture for fuel on bonfires outside. For about an hour the violent rampage bore all the hallmarks of a riot.
The Metropolitan police, who had been briefing reporters on the eve of the march to expect "nothing out of the ordinary" from the demonstration, had clearly been overwhelmed. The scale of the demonstration became apparent hours earlier, when tens of thousands gathered near Trafalgar Square at midday for a march intended to take them along the Embankment, past Westminster to Millbank, where they were told to gather for speeches.
The Met had been told to expect 15,000 protesters, and briefed journalists the night before that the National Union of Students, which co-organised the march with the University and College Union, may have inflated their numbers.
At it turned out, the figures were an underestimate. Hundreds of coaches had been booked to draft protesters in from across the country and packed crowds stretched the length of Whitehall, with just 225 police officers lining the pavement to deal with any unrest.
The march was seemingly good-natured as it snaked past the House of Commons to benign chants of, "No ifs, no buts, no education cuts". Repeated attempts at "sit-downs" to block the roads around Parliament Square lasted only a few minutes. Protesters became angry at one of their own when a green smoke canister hurled toward police struck a tourist instead.
Police may not have known it, but word had quickly spread through the crowd that the Tory headquarters would be the target of an "action". Around 1.15pm a breakaway group of 200 or so activists stormed the Millbank building complex by the Thames, which contains the Tory party's HQ and a few government agencies. The NUS condemned the violence, saying it had not been planned.
Whoever did orchestrate the violent occupation, it did not go to plan, as activists initially entered Millbank Tower – the wrong building. Minimal security meant that minutes later they left easily and sprinted across the road to the building that houses the Tory party and barricaded themselves inside.
About 1,000 activists congregated in a courtyard outside, starting fires with burning placards and shouting chants of "Tory scum". Eggs, sticks and bottles were thrown at a thin line of police blocking the entrance, and officers were unable to prevent repeated crowd surges.
They were overpowered at least six times. On each occasion dozens of protesters forced their way in. At least 14 people were taken to hospital with minor injuries, police said. Several police suffered head wounds.
Once inside, protesters took the lift to the third floor, got on to the roof and used chairs to smash windows from the inside. "We were in the courtyard [of Millbank] and people were smashing through the glass to get into the building and saying 'Come in', so we just went into the building," said Olivia Wedderburn, 18, from east London.
"Then there was an opportunity to go up the stairs so we thought 'Oh we'll do that', so we went up there. There were only about 20 or 30 people going up the stairs, but on the way up the whole staircase was flooded – they had pulled down a fire hose and flooded all the floors. All the windows were getting smashed, everything was getting smashed up all around."
She added: "They were mainly young students, [with] just a couple of older guys who looked like old-school anarchists." As night fell and territorial support group "snatch squads" began hauling activists out, large segments of the crowd turned against the occupiers of the building.
Many expressed dismay at the violence and when a fire extinguisher was hurled at police from the roof, chants condemning the coalition were replaced with an even louder chorus from the crowd below of "stop throwing shit".
NUS president, Aaron Porter, tweeted: "Disgusted that the actions of a minority of idiots are trying to undermine 50,000 who came to make a peaceful protest."
Summarising the sentiment of those who began walking away from the Millbank, which was strewn with broken glass and graffiti, Scott Sygrove, 18, from Bournemouth, said: "Protest is absolutely fine, but breaking windows is over the top. "We're all pissed off – pardon my French – but they are causing a lot of damage and frustration. This will only make things worse. Violence is not the answer to a peaceful protest."
From 6pm, the remaining groups of protesters in the courtyard were corralled in so-called "kettles" and arrested in small numbers. A chunk of the crowd moved to Parliament Square, where students carrying duvets said they planned to set up an "education camp".
Sebilio Uribe, 24, said: "We want to show that this a peaceful, proactive way to bring our message to the government and show we can organise and mobilise. "We aim to stay here for as long as possible until this government listens to the 50,000 students who have marched today."
A small group who remained in the ransacked lobby of Conservative HQ showed similar determination. One young woman did her make-up just feet from a uniformed riot officer. Another held up a sign reading: "We are hostages to the police. We are fine but want pizza, lower uni fees."
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