Tens of thousands of students took to the streets of London on Wednesday to protest a government plan to double, and in some cases triple, university fees by 2012.

What began as a peaceful march of as many as 50,000 students, faculty and other groups, erupted into violence when a small group of protesters stormed the offices of the governing Conservative party.

Police quickly beat back the protesters, some of whom reacted by breaking windows and setting bonfires. The building was evacuated as demonstrators chanted "Tories out."

Organizers distanced themselves from the violence while protests carried on peacefully elsewhere in the city.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of faculty group the University and College Union, said "the actions of a minority, out of 50,000 people, is regrettable."

The tuition hike is just one of many measures the British government has proposed to tackle a crippling budget deficit. Prime Minister David Cameron has warned of massive spending cuts in an effort to slash about 81 billion pounds from the budget over the next four years.

Tony Blair's Labour government introduced student fees for the first time in Britain in 1997 and they remain capped at about 3,000 pounds a year, except in Scotland, which abolished tuition fees in 2000.

Cameron's government is proposing doubling that figure, and allowing some schools to triple fees under extenuating circumstances. The proposal faces a vote in Parliament before the end of the year and would come into effect in 2012.

CTV's London Bureau Chief Tom Kennedy said the protests will put tremendous pressure on the relatively weak coalition government to "back off of these changes," particularly given that the Liberal Democrats, which are part of the coalition, had promised during the recent election to abolish fees.

"The government is taking other measures to make it easier for students to repay student loans over the long term, trying to mitigate the effects of these tuition increases," Kennedy told CTV News Channel in an interview from London. "But you tell anyone that their fees are going to triple by 2012, it's a pretty dramatic increase and the students are getting some sympathy."

Among the groups showing solidarity with students was the Trades Union Congress, which said the fee hike would make it impossible for average families to send their children to university.

"This is about turning colleges and universities from learning institutions into finishing schools for the rich," said Frances O'Grady of the TUC.

Protest leaders suggested they may try to spearhead recall proceedings of members of parliament who go against their campaign promises and vote for the hike.

"We will not tolerate the previous generation passing on its debts to the next," said Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students. "Nor will we pick up the bill to access a college and university education that was funded for them."

With files from The Associated Press