VIOLENT clashes at the latest student demonstration appear to have taken everyone by surprise, not least the Metropolitan Police.

Ill-equipped to cope with the trouble, officers could only watch as they smashed windows, lit fires and hurled missiles.

Most of the 50,000 students in London were there for a peaceful protest against education cuts and the proposed massive hike in university tuition fees.

But the stormy end to the proceedings was more reminiscent of student protests in the 1960s or the destructive poll tax riots in the ‘80s.

A period of unrest has been predicted across many areas as crippling government cuts start to take hold.

So was Wednesday’s protest, which led to more than 51 arrests and at least 14 injuries, the start of it?

Thousands of students from across Dorset travelled to the capital for the protest against plans to raise the cap on university tuition fees to a huge £9,000 per year.

Many Bournemouth University students said they believed the protest was hijacked by people who are not particularly concerned about the plight of future students. And they said they believe their actions harmed their case against increased fees.

“The riot was not a particularly good way to get our views heard and it portrays students in a bad light” said Scarlett Bruce, 18. “In the ‘80s it was all anarchy but I think we have matured since then.”

And Debbie Powell, 24, said students will not be keen to get involved in more demonstrations. “What’s the point if it will just get hijacked?”

Patsy Whitford, 30, said the issues were over-shadowed by media coverage of the violence and Jemma O’Leary added: “It highlighted how strongly students feel but I didn’t agree with the violence.”

James Kirk, 19, said he was shocked the protest was so violent and added: “I don’t think it represented the majority of students. I don’t think it did any favours to anyone.”

Toby Horner, Student Union President, saw the violence first hand and said: “It was disgusting and there was a sense of disbelief. The people involved just seemed to be there to cause trouble. They were a lot older than everyone else and did not appear to be connected to any particular university.”

Mr Horner said around 150 students from Bournemouth University attended and added: “I was very proud of the way they all behaved.”

New Forest MP Desmond Swayne condemned protesters and said: “Nothing does more harm to the cause that peaceful demonstrators are supporting than to have a bunch of thugs behave like criminals.

“What happened was an absolute outrage – people could so easily have been killed. I saw the crowd go by earlier in the day and it was good-humoured and light-hearted. There is an element out there who are there to make trouble.”

There are fears demonstrations could be organised at short notice and catch police unawares thanks to social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter.

On Wednesday a 19-year-old student from Bournemouth University told a national newspaper: “This has been arranged for ages and I’m surprised the police didn’t do their homework.”

But students in Bournemouth yesterday said they had not been aware of organised violence.