Police probe into failure to stop student riots

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has called for a "very quick internal review" into the planning for the demonstration which overwhelmed officers as tens of thousands of students took to the streets of Westminster two days ago.

Protesters clashed with police after a planned march through Westminster, smashing windows at the Tory Party base, setting fires, and throwing missiles from the occupied roof of the Millbank building, including a fire extinguisher.

Fifty people were arrested and later bailed following the unrest which saw one police officer suffer ripped tendons in a hand and a several others need stitches to facial wounds after being punched or hit with sticks.

On the day, organisers initially planned to keep Parliament Square open to traffic, by channelling protesters into one lane.

It quickly became clear, however, that far more than the 15,000 demonstrators expected had turned up and large areas of Westminster had to be shut off.

Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison said police did expect "civil disobedience", potentially including people blocking traffic and charging along roads but he told the Metropolitan Police Authority officers were completely caught by surprise when some people turned on Millbank.

Mr Allison said the force must "completely reassess" how it evaluates risk for large public events and suggested this may result in more officers in future.

The Government said yesterday that police planning for the event had gone wrong.

Policing Minister Nick Herbert told the House of Commons that the force had got the balance between dealing "promptly and robustly" with violence and allowing students to protest wrong, and will "learn the lessons".

The Metropolitan Police had initially planned to deploy just 225 officers to the protests but had to double the numbers sent to the scene as events unfolded, according to Mr Herbert.