Fees protesters storm Tory Party HQ

Protesters have taken over the central London headquarters of the Conservative Party in central London.

A demonstration organised by the National Union of Students and the University and College Union began peacefully, with up to 50,000 students, lecturers and supporters, marching from Whitehall past Downing Street and Parliament.

But around an hour after the protest started, violence flared at Millbank Tower, close to the Tate Britain art gallery where the march was due to end with a rally.

A number of police officers were injured after they came under attack from youths, some wearing scarves to hide their faces, amid scenes of chaos. Hundreds of workers were evacuated from the building, which also houses other organisations including Government agencies, as windows were smashed and a fire was lit.

About 50 protesters got on to the roof, dropping a large metal fire extinguisher on to riot police. Water fire extinguishers were also let off from the roof and eggs were thrown. On the ground, sticks and other missiles were thrown at police from a crowd of at least 1,000 spilling out on to the normally busy road alongside the building.

Placards and banners were being burnt, to cheers from the crowd, while protesters inside the building used chairs as they smashed and kicked their way through more of the glass frontage, effectively opening up the whole atrium to the crowd.

One policewoman with a bloody wound to her head was led away from the side of the building by two colleagues. A stick was thrown at her as she went.

A confetti of torn newspaper rained down on the hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Millbank atrium after students gained access to the upper floors of the building.

The crowd responded to the heavy police presence with loud booing, screaming and chanting.

Students who had got inside the building's atrium tried to pull down the few remaining huge sheets of glass. Others hurled stuffed pillows while the chants of "Tory scum" increased in volume.

A Conservative Party spokesman said that all its staff were "safe" but could not confirm whether or not they had been evacuated from the building.

NUS president Aaron Porter said a small minority of protesters had "hijacked" the march, describing the violence as "despicable".