A NEW Forest A-level student was last night being quizzed by detectives after a fire extinguisher was thrown at officers during the fees riot in London, write Jon Reeve and Jessica Fuhl.

Edward Woollard, who is also known as Edward Renyard, was one of 47 teenagers from Brockenhurst College who travelled to the capital last week to join the protest against government plans to nearly treble the amount universities can charge undergraduates.

The 18-year-old from Hythe handed himself in to police in Totton on Monday evening after the Metropolitan Police issued pictures taken from TV footage of demonstrators on the roof of Millbank Tower.

Yesterday, friends and fellow students expressed their shock at his arrest, describing him as “the nicest guy you could ever meet”.

The teenager, who is believed to be studying classics, politics and philosophy, was last night still being held in a central London police station, where he was being questioned on suspicion of attempted murder.

During the riot at the building, which houses the Tory party’s headquarters, a fire extinguisher was thrown from the roof, brushing the leg of one territorial support officer and hitting the knees of another.