Royal security is being questioned after Charles and Camilla's car was attacked by rioters - protesting about the tripling of tuition fees for English students - during Thursday night's tuition fee riots by students in London.
The royal couple were in their 1977 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI and travelling along Regent Street to attend the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium when protestors spotted their vehicle.
300 of them surrounded the car and chanted: "Your government f***** us" and "Off with their heads!" whilst rocking it, kicking it, spattering it with paint and smashing a passenger window. One yob even poked Camilla with a stick. Charles eventually forced her onto the floor of the vehicle for her own protection.
It's also emerged that royal protection officers who were in a vehicle travelling with the Rolls-Royce were just seconds away from drawing their pistols and shooting those attacking the royal car. It would have been the first since since 1974, during the kidnap attempt of Princess Anne, that such a thing would have happened.
Yesterday Charles insisted: "She's fine." But Scotland Yard has been stung into launching a wholesale review of royal security.
One government official said: "The car could have been petrol bombed. It doesn't bear thinking about."
At the Palace, a shocked source said: "If a rioter could jab the Duchess with a stick he could have stabbed her with a knife."
The Queen has also spoken of her "shock" at Thursday night's riots.
An aide said: "Her Majesty will not and cannot take sides but she is deeply concerned by the violent scenes.
"It took place not only in the heart of London but in the heart of democracy in Parliament Square, close to Buckingham Palace.
"She is not permitted constitutionally to take a personal view publicly. But she does not live in a glass bubble."
It's also emerged that the student who swung from a Union Jack hanging from the Cenotaph during the protests was Charlie Gilmour, the son of Pink Floyd guitarist David. He has since been arrested.
The majority of Thursday's rioters were English. As in a lot of cases in the DisUnited Kingdom, the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish are given a lot of freebies (paid for by the English taxpayer, the cash cows of Europe) which are denied to the English. So whilst English students are having their tuition fees tripled to up to £9,000 a year, tuition fees for Welsh students will remain the same (even for those, somewhat unfairly, attending English universities), the Scots don't even pay tuition fees at all (they've got the generous English taxpapyers paying for theirs) and it's not yet been decided what to do in the case of the Northern Irish.
Ouch! Camilla... seconds after yob jabbed her in ribs
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall's evening of Royal Variety entertainment was marred when their Rolls-Royce limousine was attacked by a protester
Jab ... Prince Charles comforts his bruised wife
By MIKE SULLIVAN, Crime Editor
Published: 11 Dec 2010
The Sun
CAMILLA grimaces during the attack on the Royal limo, moments after being jabbed by a stick-wielding rioter.
Prince Charles is seen comforting his bruised wife, 63 - poked in the ribs by the thug through an open window.
Yesterday Charles insisted: "She's fine." But her ordeal, as rioters rampaged through central London during Thursday's student fees demo, sparked fury last night. Scotland Yard was stung into launching a wholesale review of royal security.
One government official said: "The car could have been petrol bombed. It doesn't bear thinking about."
At the Palace, a shocked source said: "If a rioter could jab the Duchess with a stick he could have stabbed her with a knife."
Charles and Camilla - who later refused medical treatment - were being chauffeured to the Royal Variety performance when rioters spotted their Rolls-Royce in Regent Street.
A mob of 300 surrounded the limo, rocking it and chanting: "Your government f***** us" and "Off with their heads!" The car was kicked, spattered with paint and had a passenger window smashed. Last night police were studying CCTV in the hunt for the thug who shoved the stick through a gap in the rear window.
Inches away ... Camilla face-to-face with riot thug
Getty
Photographer Matt Dunham, who witnessed the ambush, said: "Charles seemed to be waving calmly at first, trying to be amicable."
Fellow snapper Ian Marlow said the Roller appeared to get separated from its two motorcycle outriders and the unmarked police Jag behind - which also had a window smashed.
He said: "Camilla was smiling, waving and nodding - the Royal wave. I don't think she had cottoned on to how serious the situation was." Royal protection cops, including the one in the limo with the couple, were on the brink of drawing their guns when the driver managed to zoom off.
Capital offence ... rioting mob rushes towards the Rolls-Royce carrying Charles and Camilla in London's Regent Street
Getty
Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson praised their "very real restraint" during the "hugely shocking incident". He said the car's route was "thoroughly recced" minutes before the couple set off from Clarence House following a reception for The Sun's Millies Awards.
But police said rioters "appeared from nowhere".
And it emerged last night that the motorcycle outriders could not hear radio warnings from officers controlling the students because they were using a DIFFERENT channel. Charles himself had insisted on using the unwieldy 30-year-old ceremonial Roller - against police advice.
Shock ... yesterday's Sun
Ken Wharfe, 62, who was Princess Diana's bodyguard, said: "To try to drive that thing through London at any time is bad enough."
Last night Dai Davies - ex-head of the royal protection unit - said: "Clearly the Commissioner is embarrassed. It was an atrocious attack."
Charles and Camilla's Rolls Royce Phantom VI with a smashed window parked outside the London Palladium
A yob's handprint seen on the passenger side window of the Royal's Rolls Royce
Former counter-terrorist detective Charles Shoebridge said it was "among the most serious security breaches of the past decade".
Shaken Camilla bravely shrugged off her injury as she and Charles continued to the London Palladium.
Yesterday the Prince appeared unruffled as he handed out medals for heroism in Afghanistan. Widowed Elizabeth Chapman, 46, who asked about Camilla, said: "The Prince said she was dealing with it and was fine."
Defiled: The statues of two of Britain's greatest premiers, Lord Palmerston, left, who was in power almost continuously from 1807 until his death in 1865, and Churchill were targeted by the student demonstrators
Disrespect: Charlie Gilmour, son of Pink Floyd guitarist David, swinging from the Cenotaph
Riot police come under attack from flares as they clash with protestors during student demonstrations in Parliament Square
m.sullivan@the-sun.co.uk
myView
By JB of boyband JLS
(BA, Theology)
I'VE been following the student protests and if I was still at uni I'd probably join them.
I don't understand what the increases are for. I don't see what sort of difference they'll make.
I spent less time at university than I did at school.
To pay triple the price to go when you're not there that much, and leave after three years £27,000 in debt - that's harsh.
But when I say I agree with it all, it's only to a certain degree.
I sympathise and understand why there's a protest, but I think it's wrong to go round destroying stuff.
A lot of them there, I bet, aren't students. They don't even care why people are doing it.
They're just there to get involved, make a mess and cause trouble. That's what's wrong.
Yobs seem to be taking advantage of the situation and getting a kick out of breaking windows and smashing stuff up.
I mean, who really wants to be photographed peeing on statues?
Queen: My Shock
THE Queen was "shocked and disturbed" by the student riot and the attack on Charles and Camilla, a senior courtier said yesterday.
The aide said the 84-year-old Queen was "troubled in her heart" by the appalling mayhem.
He added: "Her Majesty will not and cannot take sides but she is deeply concerned by the violent scenes.
Troubled ... the Queen
"It took place not only in the heart of London but in the heart of democracy in Parliament Square, close to Buckingham Palace.
"She is not permitted constitutionally to take a personal view publicly. But she does not live in a glass bubble."
The courtier, who has been at the Queen's side for many years and has been decorated for his services, added: "There is no doubt she is disturbed by what is happening.
"Above all, she is concerned for the welfare of all her people. And a divided country is a state of affairs which troubles her heart."
The Queen's concern at the student tuition fees protests echoes her anxiety during Margaret Thatcher's premiership over Poll Tax riots and the battles between striking miners and the police.
Charles, 62, and Camilla, 63, were pictured gasping on Thursday evening as rioters smashed the back window of their Rolls-Royce and spattered it with paint.
They were on their way to the Royal Variety Performance when the mob swarmed around the chauffeur-driven car on Regent Street.
The violence was condemned by David Cameron yesterday - who promised the rioters will be punished.
He dismissed those who accused the police of bungling the security arrangements for the demo and put the blame firmly on the mob.
Mr Cameron said: "This is not the fault of the police. This was the fault of the people who tried to smash up that car.
"Responsibility for smashing property, for violence, lies with the people that perpetrate that violence and I want to see them arrested and punished in the correct way.
"I want to make sure they feel the full force of the law."
He said that many of those who ran amok behaved in "an absolutely feral way".
Shadow Home Secretary Ed Balls echoed the PM's call. He said: "Those who hijacked the demonstration and perpetrated acts of violence must be swiftly brought to justice."
Downing Street said an inquiry by Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson into the riot would not be seeking to blame senior officers who planned the police response.
The mum of a boy of 16 arrested for hurling a bottle at police in the riots said he had been encouraged to attend by his teachers.
Sarah Lloyd, whose son Noel Thomson is a music student at South London's Lewisham College, said: "He told me him and a few peers from college felt strongly about the issue and were encouraged to go along by their tutors."
Mrs Lloyd, a psychiatric nurse, said she was horrified when she got a 2.30am call to say her son was in custody.
She added: "I don't think he would throw a bottle. I have spoken to him, and he passionately denies doing it. Of course I be
lieve him."
The police watchdog is to investigate an incident in which a 20-year-old student suffered bleeding on the brain after he was hit on the head with a police truncheon. Alfie Meadows, a philosophy student, needed emergency surgery.
Mum Susan, 55, an English literature lecturer, said: "He said it was the hugest blow he ever felt in his life.
"Basically he had a stroke last night. He couldn't speak or move his hand."
Susan, who was at the demo but not with Alfie, added: "The wonderful news is he's talking and doing well."
The Independent Police Complaints Commission confirmed it was investigating.
Violence flared after 30,000 protesters poured into Parliament Square on Thursday for a Commons vote on plans to triple tuition fees.
There are fears of more trouble on Tuesday when the House of Lords votes on the bill.
thesun.co.uk
The royal couple were in their 1977 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI and travelling along Regent Street to attend the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium when protestors spotted their vehicle.
300 of them surrounded the car and chanted: "Your government f***** us" and "Off with their heads!" whilst rocking it, kicking it, spattering it with paint and smashing a passenger window. One yob even poked Camilla with a stick. Charles eventually forced her onto the floor of the vehicle for her own protection.
It's also emerged that royal protection officers who were in a vehicle travelling with the Rolls-Royce were just seconds away from drawing their pistols and shooting those attacking the royal car. It would have been the first since since 1974, during the kidnap attempt of Princess Anne, that such a thing would have happened.
Yesterday Charles insisted: "She's fine." But Scotland Yard has been stung into launching a wholesale review of royal security.
One government official said: "The car could have been petrol bombed. It doesn't bear thinking about."
At the Palace, a shocked source said: "If a rioter could jab the Duchess with a stick he could have stabbed her with a knife."
The Queen has also spoken of her "shock" at Thursday night's riots.
An aide said: "Her Majesty will not and cannot take sides but she is deeply concerned by the violent scenes.
"It took place not only in the heart of London but in the heart of democracy in Parliament Square, close to Buckingham Palace.
"She is not permitted constitutionally to take a personal view publicly. But she does not live in a glass bubble."
It's also emerged that the student who swung from a Union Jack hanging from the Cenotaph during the protests was Charlie Gilmour, the son of Pink Floyd guitarist David. He has since been arrested.
The majority of Thursday's rioters were English. As in a lot of cases in the DisUnited Kingdom, the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish are given a lot of freebies (paid for by the English taxpayer, the cash cows of Europe) which are denied to the English. So whilst English students are having their tuition fees tripled to up to £9,000 a year, tuition fees for Welsh students will remain the same (even for those, somewhat unfairly, attending English universities), the Scots don't even pay tuition fees at all (they've got the generous English taxpapyers paying for theirs) and it's not yet been decided what to do in the case of the Northern Irish.
Ouch! Camilla... seconds after yob jabbed her in ribs
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall's evening of Royal Variety entertainment was marred when their Rolls-Royce limousine was attacked by a protester
Jab ... Prince Charles comforts his bruised wife
By MIKE SULLIVAN, Crime Editor
Published: 11 Dec 2010
The Sun
CAMILLA grimaces during the attack on the Royal limo, moments after being jabbed by a stick-wielding rioter.
Prince Charles is seen comforting his bruised wife, 63 - poked in the ribs by the thug through an open window.
Yesterday Charles insisted: "She's fine." But her ordeal, as rioters rampaged through central London during Thursday's student fees demo, sparked fury last night. Scotland Yard was stung into launching a wholesale review of royal security.
One government official said: "The car could have been petrol bombed. It doesn't bear thinking about."
At the Palace, a shocked source said: "If a rioter could jab the Duchess with a stick he could have stabbed her with a knife."
Charles and Camilla - who later refused medical treatment - were being chauffeured to the Royal Variety performance when rioters spotted their Rolls-Royce in Regent Street.
A mob of 300 surrounded the limo, rocking it and chanting: "Your government f***** us" and "Off with their heads!" The car was kicked, spattered with paint and had a passenger window smashed. Last night police were studying CCTV in the hunt for the thug who shoved the stick through a gap in the rear window.
Inches away ... Camilla face-to-face with riot thug
Getty
Photographer Matt Dunham, who witnessed the ambush, said: "Charles seemed to be waving calmly at first, trying to be amicable."
Fellow snapper Ian Marlow said the Roller appeared to get separated from its two motorcycle outriders and the unmarked police Jag behind - which also had a window smashed.
He said: "Camilla was smiling, waving and nodding - the Royal wave. I don't think she had cottoned on to how serious the situation was." Royal protection cops, including the one in the limo with the couple, were on the brink of drawing their guns when the driver managed to zoom off.
Capital offence ... rioting mob rushes towards the Rolls-Royce carrying Charles and Camilla in London's Regent Street
Getty
Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson praised their "very real restraint" during the "hugely shocking incident". He said the car's route was "thoroughly recced" minutes before the couple set off from Clarence House following a reception for The Sun's Millies Awards.
But police said rioters "appeared from nowhere".
And it emerged last night that the motorcycle outriders could not hear radio warnings from officers controlling the students because they were using a DIFFERENT channel. Charles himself had insisted on using the unwieldy 30-year-old ceremonial Roller - against police advice.
Shock ... yesterday's Sun
Ken Wharfe, 62, who was Princess Diana's bodyguard, said: "To try to drive that thing through London at any time is bad enough."
Last night Dai Davies - ex-head of the royal protection unit - said: "Clearly the Commissioner is embarrassed. It was an atrocious attack."
Charles and Camilla's Rolls Royce Phantom VI with a smashed window parked outside the London Palladium
A yob's handprint seen on the passenger side window of the Royal's Rolls Royce
Former counter-terrorist detective Charles Shoebridge said it was "among the most serious security breaches of the past decade".
Shaken Camilla bravely shrugged off her injury as she and Charles continued to the London Palladium.
Yesterday the Prince appeared unruffled as he handed out medals for heroism in Afghanistan. Widowed Elizabeth Chapman, 46, who asked about Camilla, said: "The Prince said she was dealing with it and was fine."
Defiled: The statues of two of Britain's greatest premiers, Lord Palmerston, left, who was in power almost continuously from 1807 until his death in 1865, and Churchill were targeted by the student demonstrators
Riot police come under attack from flares as they clash with protestors during student demonstrations in Parliament Square
m.sullivan@the-sun.co.uk
myView
By JB of boyband JLS
(BA, Theology)
I'VE been following the student protests and if I was still at uni I'd probably join them.
I don't understand what the increases are for. I don't see what sort of difference they'll make.
I spent less time at university than I did at school.
To pay triple the price to go when you're not there that much, and leave after three years £27,000 in debt - that's harsh.
But when I say I agree with it all, it's only to a certain degree.
I sympathise and understand why there's a protest, but I think it's wrong to go round destroying stuff.
A lot of them there, I bet, aren't students. They don't even care why people are doing it.
They're just there to get involved, make a mess and cause trouble. That's what's wrong.
Yobs seem to be taking advantage of the situation and getting a kick out of breaking windows and smashing stuff up.
I mean, who really wants to be photographed peeing on statues?
Queen: My Shock
By JAMES CLENCH AND JOHN KAY
THE Queen was "shocked and disturbed" by the student riot and the attack on Charles and Camilla, a senior courtier said yesterday.
The aide said the 84-year-old Queen was "troubled in her heart" by the appalling mayhem.
He added: "Her Majesty will not and cannot take sides but she is deeply concerned by the violent scenes.
Troubled ... the Queen
"It took place not only in the heart of London but in the heart of democracy in Parliament Square, close to Buckingham Palace.
"She is not permitted constitutionally to take a personal view publicly. But she does not live in a glass bubble."
The courtier, who has been at the Queen's side for many years and has been decorated for his services, added: "There is no doubt she is disturbed by what is happening.
"Above all, she is concerned for the welfare of all her people. And a divided country is a state of affairs which troubles her heart."
The Queen's concern at the student tuition fees protests echoes her anxiety during Margaret Thatcher's premiership over Poll Tax riots and the battles between striking miners and the police.
Charles, 62, and Camilla, 63, were pictured gasping on Thursday evening as rioters smashed the back window of their Rolls-Royce and spattered it with paint.
They were on their way to the Royal Variety Performance when the mob swarmed around the chauffeur-driven car on Regent Street.
The violence was condemned by David Cameron yesterday - who promised the rioters will be punished.
He dismissed those who accused the police of bungling the security arrangements for the demo and put the blame firmly on the mob.
Mr Cameron said: "This is not the fault of the police. This was the fault of the people who tried to smash up that car.
"Responsibility for smashing property, for violence, lies with the people that perpetrate that violence and I want to see them arrested and punished in the correct way.
"I want to make sure they feel the full force of the law."
He said that many of those who ran amok behaved in "an absolutely feral way".
Shadow Home Secretary Ed Balls echoed the PM's call. He said: "Those who hijacked the demonstration and perpetrated acts of violence must be swiftly brought to justice."
Downing Street said an inquiry by Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson into the riot would not be seeking to blame senior officers who planned the police response.
The mum of a boy of 16 arrested for hurling a bottle at police in the riots said he had been encouraged to attend by his teachers.
Sarah Lloyd, whose son Noel Thomson is a music student at South London's Lewisham College, said: "He told me him and a few peers from college felt strongly about the issue and were encouraged to go along by their tutors."
Mrs Lloyd, a psychiatric nurse, said she was horrified when she got a 2.30am call to say her son was in custody.
She added: "I don't think he would throw a bottle. I have spoken to him, and he passionately denies doing it. Of course I be
lieve him."
The police watchdog is to investigate an incident in which a 20-year-old student suffered bleeding on the brain after he was hit on the head with a police truncheon. Alfie Meadows, a philosophy student, needed emergency surgery.
Mum Susan, 55, an English literature lecturer, said: "He said it was the hugest blow he ever felt in his life.
"Basically he had a stroke last night. He couldn't speak or move his hand."
Susan, who was at the demo but not with Alfie, added: "The wonderful news is he's talking and doing well."
The Independent Police Complaints Commission confirmed it was investigating.
Violence flared after 30,000 protesters poured into Parliament Square on Thursday for a Commons vote on plans to triple tuition fees.
There are fears of more trouble on Tuesday when the House of Lords votes on the bill.
thesun.co.uk
Last edited:
