Ilkley Grammar School head Gillian James yesterday blamed BBC camera crews attending the peace protest outside the school for the escalation of events which saw her pupils invade the town centre.

More than 400 pupils left the school grounds and marched into Ilkley following what had been a noisy but peaceful demonstration against war with Iraq on the roadside facing the school.

And Mrs James claims the peaceful nature of the protest was ruined due to incitement by news cameramen from the BBC.

She said: "Their actions were grossly irresponsible and I am very angry about the way the BBC went about this.

"The march into Ilkley was spontaneous and seemed to be on the back of the cameras being there. It had not been an issue or an intention to do that at all.

"Everything was okay while they were filming the children from further away. But then they came to the school gates and the children just started mobbing them and acting silly to get their two minutes of fame.

"The children had been fine and were behaving until then but after that we had children in the road and the cameras followed them down into the town centre."

A spokeswoman for BBC Look North strenuously denied any wrongdoing. "We don't film when children get boisterous. It was made clear to the children at the time that if they became over-boisterous the cameras would go off.

l A number of pupils from Prince Henry's Grammar School in Otley also staged a protest yesterday when they skipped lessons to demonstrate their opposition to war with Iraq.

They were led by 19-year-old Sachin Sharma, who made national news two weeks ago when he was suspended for inciting other students to walk out of school.

Yesterday's protest was held outside the school gates before they marched through the building to rally support. They then formed a blockade across the road before marching into Otley and attending a rally in Leeds.