Police vow to hunt down royal attackers

Published on Friday 10 December 2010 17:13

THE head of Scotland Yard has promised a full criminal investigation into how rioters were able to attack Prince Charles' car during tuition fee protests in central London.

• The moment Charles and Camilla came under attack

But questions were also being asked about the wider policing effort which turned the area in and around Parliament Square and Whitehall into a battleground.

One 20-year-old student, Alfie Meadow, had emergency surgery after he had bleeding on the brain allegedly because he was struck on the head by a police baton. This incident will be investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Meanwhile, parliamentary pressure is mounting on the government with two committees planning on grilling Home Secretary Theresa May next week with the latest figures showing that 43 students and 12 police officers were injured, while 33 protesters were arrested.

Ms May will appear before the Home Affairs Committee while the committee on human rights will have a one-day discussion on organising policing in protests.

But it was the attack on the royal car carrying Prince Charles and his wife Camilla which has led to searching questions.

Pictures of a shocked Duchess of Cornwall have been beamed around the world and it emerged that some protesters reached into the Rolls-Royce.

A gang from a splinter group of around 150 protesters in Regent Street about half a mile from the main protest, smashed a window and threw paint while shouting "off with their heads!".

A Clarence House spokesman refused to confirm reports that the duchess was poked with a stick through an open window, but stressed that the royal couple did not seek medical help.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said an investigation was being held into the security breach, and also said armed protection officers had shown "real restraint" not to open fire as the situation slipped out of control.

He said: "I do think that the officers who were protecting their Royal Highnesses showed very real restraint - some of those officers were armed.

"Their priority was to get that car to the point of safety, which was the venue, and that was achieved, but it was a hugely shocking incident and there will be a full criminal investigation into it."

A former head of royal protection, Dai Davies, said he was surprised by the apparent lack of strategy.

He said: "One of the principles of protection is to have alternative routes and I would have expected there to be at least three different routes."

Former Metropolitan commander Brian Paddock yesterday claimed that sources had told him the prince had decided himself to take the risk and travel to the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium.

Meanwhile, David Cameron demanded the attackers face the "full force of the law" amid calls for an independent inquiry into the mob attack on the prince and duchess.

But the Prime Minister defended Scotland Yard's handling of the situation, insisting there was no excuse for the "appalling" violence and vandalism.

Charlie Gilmour, 21, the son of Pink Floyd frontman Dave Gilmour, has apologised after being identified as one of those who climbed on the Cenotaph, as thousands of youngsters vented their fury over MPs' decision to treble university fees to a maximum of 9,000 a year.

Police have so far arrested 33 people as a result of the disorder.

National Union of Students president Aaron Porter stressed that protests should be peaceful, but said young people were "engaging with the issues" over tuition fees.

"Peaceful protest is an integral part of our heritage and it is the responsibility of the police to help facilitate that," he said.

"Throughout this campaign, thousands of young people who have been in the past dismissed as politically apathetic have engaged with the issues and are seeking a way to express their opinions."