I am writing to inform you of the disgraceful treatment my daughter and her friends received whilst exercising their democratic right to peacefully demonstrate against the introduction of tuition fees last Thursday.

They marched peacefully into Parliament Square with thousands of others and then found themselves caged unlawfully for many, many hours.

There was no access to any sort of refreshment or toilet facilities.

The weather was extremely cold, as those inside Parliament and the police outside would have known.

Young adults were in tears, some wet themselves, and many were forced to relieve themselves in public.

My daughter explained that she had a medical condition as had a few of the others and needed to go to the toilet. All the policeman would say was, “Tough, should have thought of that before.”

The girls were not rude in any way and just asked politely for their basic human rights to be respected.

They presented no threat and yet they were threatened and bullied by the very people who should set an outstanding example of good behaviour, understanding and tolerance.

They were pushed by the police into an ever-decreasing area and could not sit down.

All were surrounded by policemen who used their batons on several members of the public quite unnecessarily and in some cases indiscriminately to force the crowd to move back.

Horses were used as lethal weapons on defenceless youngsters, causing dangerous surges in the crowd.

They neither knew nor cared that the vast majority of these young people come from decent law-abiding families and are used to being treated with courtesy and respect People of all ages were protesting and they should have been treated humanely in accordance with their basic human rights. These were totally ignored.

Everyone, no matter what their beliefs or political persuasion, should have the right to demonstrate and be treated reasonably.

If this had been happening in China it would have been roundly condemned and there would have been much discussion about how China ignores the human rights of its citizens.

Unbelievably it happened on the streets of London, right outside the very bastion that represents the people.

MP Groves (Mrs), Yarnton