POLICE AND PROTESTERS CLASHED in London yesterday as student demonstrated over a House of Commons vote to increase tuition fees to £9,000 a year.

Mounted police were used to control crowds of protesters who had gathered in Parliament Square and police later said 12 officers and 43 protesters were injured yesterday.

Over 30 people were arrested.

An inquiry into how police handled the protests has been launched after events culminated in an attack on Charles and Camilla’s car.

The royal couple were heading to the London Palladium for the Royal Variety show, according to the BBC, when their car was set upon by a group of protesters amid chants of “off with their heads”:

One of the rear passenger side windows was smashed and white paint was thrown onto the car. The couple was not injured, but the Telegraph reports that Camilla was left badly shaken by the incident.

Wrong message

The National Union of Students says yesterday’s violence marrs the message they were trying to put forward. In Belfast, eight people were arrested and charged with public order offences yesterday following protests in Belfast.

One protester who was struck on the head with a truncheon by a police officer has been left with bleeding on the brain, the Independent UK reports. Student Alfie Meadows’ mother says her son was struck outside Westminster Abbey as he tried to leave the area during the protests last night.

Meadows has since undergone three hours of surgery and is recovering in hospital.

Despite the disturbances outside parliament shown in the below footage, proposals to treble student fees to £9,000 a year were approved by the House of Commons