Some 50 police officers attended the university¡¯s Bloomsbury headquarters on the evening on 4 December after a group of students occupied a corridor in the administration block to call attention to the ¡°disgraceful and unaccountable manner¡± in which the university is run.

The students had said they would not leave until a list of 10 demands were met, including giving outsourced cleaners the same sick pay, holiday pay and pensions as in-house staff.

According to the London Student newspaper, some 30 students were removed from the building by security staff after barricading themselves in.

The University of London Union condemned the ¡°violent eviction¡± of Senate House, claiming protesters were assaulted by both police and security. One piece of video footage posted online appeared to show a protester being punched in the face by a police officer.

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A protest against the eviction took place outside Senate House this afternoon and led to further confrontations with police and more arrests.

In a statement, student union officers claimed that yesterday¡¯s occupation was a ¡°legitimate form of dissent¡± and that the university¡¯s actions show a ¡°disregard for both the welfare of their students and their own university community¡±.

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However, Chris Cobb, chief operating officer at the University of London, said the occupation had been a ¡°disgraceful and aggressive act, which placed the safety of our staff at risk¡±.

In a statement released on 5 December, the university said staff had been forced to lock themselves in their offices because the demonstrators appeared ¡°aggressive and intimidating¡±.

It had issued an ultimatum to student to leave the premises at 6pm and began clearing the build ¡°by force¡± at 7.20pm.

¡°The university will always support peaceful and legitimate protest, but invading our working environment and blocking fire escapes is potentially life threatening and plays no part in democratic dissent,¡± said Mr Cobb.

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¡°The university will never under any circumstances enter into a dialogue with any group or group of individuals who adopt this approach,¡± he added.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said its officers were there only to prevent a breach of the peace and that one protester had been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.

Two others were arrested ¡°to prevent a breach of the peace¡± and later released, the London Student was told.

The sit-in followed similar protests over the last fortnight at the universities of Birmingham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Sheffield, Sussex, the University of Ulster¡¯s Coleraine campus and Goldsmiths, University of London.

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Sussex has suspended five students over the protest, it was announced on 4 December.

The University of Sussex Students¡¯ Union has launched a petition against the suspensions, saying it ¡°condemns the intimidation of students undertaking protest action by University management¡±.

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Organisers of several of the sit-ins said they wanted to support industrial action by members of four higher education unions - the University and College Union, Unite, Unison and EIS, in Scotland - who held a second one-day strike on 3 December against a ¡°miserly¡± 1 per cent pay offer, as well as call attention to other grievances, including the sell-off of the student loan book and their support for outsourced workers.

jack.grove@tsleducation.com