Damian Hinds and Nick Gibb may face anger over school funding, but it hardly compares to that encountered by Danish education minister Merete Riisager.

She was forced to cut short a visit to an upper secondary school in Copenhagen due to coins being thrown by teenagers, who also shouted “luder” (“whore”), as reported by the Altinget news website.

Headteacher Jonas Lindelof told the Ritzau Danish news agency that he tried to intervene in the disturbance but that he was unable to get students to return to their classrooms.

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He said: “I didn’t witness the things that have been described myself, but this is completely unacceptable.”

“This is naturally my responsibility. But you can’t just get 500 students to obey you when tempers are flaring. I tried to get the young people to return to their classrooms.”

Violent student protest ‘completely unacceptable’

The incident last month at Ørestad Gymnasium school happened when Ms Riisager visited to take part in a debate on democracy. Students were angry over funding cuts and new rules on attendance.

Mr Lindelof said he had written to Ms Riisager to apologise for the incident.

And management at the school was looking into whether disciplinary action against the students was necessary, Ritzau writes.

The head of one of the college’s two student councils said he regretted the incident and acknowledged that there had been an aggressive atmosphere amongst as many as 100 students at the event, DR Danish TV station reported.

“I am both embarrassed and disappointed in my school,” Henrik Michael Rafn told DR.

Banners had been prepared to make a statement against the budget cuts and new attendance rules, but the protest got out of hand, Rafn said.

“This is not how young people behave. We young people have a lot on our minds and it’s OK to show dissatisfaction. This came out in a very bad way,” he added, stressing that the council he chairs had told students that protests should be made in a “dignified” manner.