After 50 days, police storm the barricades at Glasgow University

But a group of students who have occupied a building at Glasgow University's campus in a protest against planned cuts were evicted yesterday.

The "Free Hetherington" collective and student leaders accused Strathclyde Police of taking a heavy-handed approach to the afternoon operation, with scores of officers on foot aided by more than a dozen police vans and a force helicopter.

Politicians, meanwhile, reiterated their support for the students forced out of the former Hetherington Research Club and condemned the approach taken by police.

The occupation at the site - a former social club for postgraduates and mature students - began on 1 February to make clear the opposition among students to planned cuts at the historic university.

In the following 50 days, singer Billy Bragg offered moral support during a late-night visit, while film nights gave the demonstration a strong social element.

At about 10.30am yesterday, however, eight police officers approached the building, only to realise they had underestimated the number of students. By noon, the group of occupiers had swollen to about 150, with students gathered around the front and the rear of the club, carrying banners of opposition.

As police stepped up their efforts, about 30 officers were called in, along with the force's dog team. A helicopter monitored the situation, with vehicles used to block off the road.

Their numbers increased as more vehicles turned up, and before long the force made their way through a human chain into the Hetherington.

Inside, their sheer manpower - it is estimated 80 officers were deployed - saw the protesters emerge one by one, with up to five officers tasked with removing a single student, dragging them out by their arms and legs.

Friends of one of the occupiers, Kate Connolly, 19, said she was taken to hospital with suspected concussion,

Jo Shaw, 20, one of the last students to be removed during the four-hour operation, said: "Kate was assaulted by the police. An officer pushed her against the wall and she hit her head. "Nobody here posed a threat to the police; this was a peaceful protest and we were going passively."

Police left the building at 2pm after evicting about 30 people.

Tommy Gore, president of the university's Student Representative Council, said there has been a "disproportionally large amount of police".

Patrick Harvie, Green Party candidate for Glasgow, expressed "wholehearted support" for the "peaceful occupation".

Former Scottish Socialist MSP Frances Curran said she would submit Freedom of Information requests to the police and university to establish "scale, cost and justification" for a "paramilitary operation".

Superintendent Nelson Telfer of Strathclyde Police said one female was arrested for an alleged obstruction, before being taken to the Western Infirmary after complaining of feeling unwell.

He added: "Any suggestion that the police response to this situation was disproportionate is ridiculous. It is testament to the officers' judgment and discretion that no-one was injured."

A spokesman for the university said: "University staff entered 13 University Gardens and asked the remaining occupiers to leave. The police were then asked to attend when a group of protesters gathered outside. The occupiers left the building peacefully, and there were no serious incidents."