SIR – I am appalled by the abhorrent acts perpetrated during the recent student protest in London.

Though I believe these students are misguided over tuition fees, they do have a legitimate right to protest.

What they do not have a right to do is behave like deranged thugs, wreaking havoc on everyone and everything.

To attack the future King is not an act of passionate protest, it’s an act of mindless thuggery and sedition. As well as six policemen being badly injured during this pathetic excuse for meaningful protest, monuments such as the Cenotaph and Winston Churchill’s statue were defiled.

These memorials are venerated symbols of remembrance and freedom. Don’t these morons realise that, had it not been for the sacrifice of courageous men and women and the strength and fortitude of a great leader, they would not be in the position they are today of even having the right to protest? No doubt the student leaders will wash their hands of any blame. They should take heed of the words written by Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men to do nothing.”

Stuart Jessop, Marsland Place, Thornbury, Bradford