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| Student fees: report on royal car attack due on Friday | Student fees: report on royal car attack due on Friday |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| A report about the attack by rioters on the car carrying Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall will be completed by Friday, the home secretary has said. | |
| Theresa May told MPs public details of the findings may be limited for security reasons. | Theresa May told MPs public details of the findings may be limited for security reasons. |
| But she said she would wait for them before deciding on any action, following last Thursday's violent student fee protests in central London. | But she said she would wait for them before deciding on any action, following last Thursday's violent student fee protests in central London. |
| And she said water cannon had not been approved for police use by government. | |
| Mrs May was updating MPs after protesters clashed with police on Thursday while MPs voted for plans to allow universities in England to charge tuition fees of up to £9,000 per year. | Mrs May was updating MPs after protesters clashed with police on Thursday while MPs voted for plans to allow universities in England to charge tuition fees of up to £9,000 per year. |
| During the protests, the royal couple's Rolls-Royce was attacked and a window smashed as they were driven to an engagement. | |
| The incident has prompted questions over the security breach. | The incident has prompted questions over the security breach. |
| Mrs May said: "There has been much speculation about the Duchess being struck through the window of the car and I understand that there was some contact made. | |
| "The Metropolitan Police Commissioner has ordered an urgent review of the royalty protection arrangements in place on the night and I can tell the House that the review is due to report by Friday December 17." | |
| Protester surgery | |
| A review is also under way by the Independent Police Complaints Commission after 43 protesters were injured, one seriously. | A review is also under way by the Independent Police Complaints Commission after 43 protesters were injured, one seriously. |
| Twenty-year-old student Alfie Meadows needed brain surgery after allegedly being hit with a police baton and knocked unconscious. | |
| Mrs May told the Commons that 30 officers were injured and six were taken to hospital. | Mrs May told the Commons that 30 officers were injured and six were taken to hospital. |
| She said there had been 35 arrests so far, but could not give figures on how many had been charged. | She said there had been 35 arrests so far, but could not give figures on how many had been charged. |
| She said the number of arrests was likely to rise as while some "students behaved disgracefully, the police also assess that the protests were infiltrated by organised groups of hardcore activists and street gangs bent on violence". | |
| Water cannon | |
| The home secretary also praised Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, saying he served London "with distinction". | |
| There has been speculation he offered to resign in the wake of the car attack. | |
| Mrs May was also questioned about the use of water cannon to control protesters in any future demonstrations. | |
| On Sunday she said Scotland Yard was looking at measures "across the board" - leaving the door open for the use of water cannon. | |
| But she told the house on Monday that the Home Office had not yet approved water cannon as a measure that could be used in England and Wales. | |
| "I don't think anybody wants to see water cannon used on the streets of Britain," she said. | |
| 'Loan request?' | |
| But Ian Paisley Jnr, MP, asked her about claims the Met Police had asked for two water cannons to use to combat violent protest. | |
| He asked if she could comment on a "request" for two water cannon "from the stock of six" available in Northern Ireland and if she was aware of a "conversation" been the Met Commissioner and the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. | |
| She did not address the point, but said police would look "at all options" on all occasions. | |
| Scotland Yard has said it would issue a statement. The PSNI said it had had "no formal request from the Met". | |
| Shadow home secretary Ed Balls also condemned the violence seen on Thursday, but stressed that Labour MPs shared students' "dismay, anger and injustice felt" at the "deeply unfair hike in tuition fees". | |
| He called on Mrs May to shelve a "cost-cutting" review of royal security. | |
| And he asked for assurances that forces would still have the resources to police major events as the government on Monday announced cuts amounting to the "biggest peace-time cut in police funding in more than a century". |