THE leader of Oxfordshire County Council last night turned his fire on the parents of the teenage protesters who this week stormed County Hall.

Up to 50 schoolchildren and sixth formers occupied the building, in New Road, Oxford, on Tuesday, with two reaching the roof during a demonstration against the Government’s proposal to raise tuition fees.

Some of the young protestors actually came face-to-face with council leader Keith Mitchell, who later branded the demonstrators an “ugly, badly-dressed student rabble” on Internet social networking site Twitter. He also described them as “oiks” on his political blog.

Yesterday, 40 protesters returned to County Hall, but this time dressed in suits, bowler hats and paper masks of Mr Mitchell to protest against his comments.

Protester Bianca Galu-kande, 17, from Cheney School, Headington, said pupils wanted to show the Conservative councillor that they were not a mob.

Three were invited inside to meet Mr Mitchell to discuss the issue and his earlier remarks.

But yesterday he said that parents who backed their children’s actions to skip school to protest were irresponsible for encouraging unlawful activities that put their sons and daughters at risk of coming under the influence of extremists.

Mr Mitchell said: “I can guess the location and lifestyle of many of these parents, and we will have to differ on our respective views on the rights and wrongs of allowing underage teenagers to roam the streets in this way.

He added: “I am disappointed parents are supporting unlawful activities. Many of them will probably have an academic background and I wonder whether they would support mass trespass by their offspring in their colleges?”

Protester Erin Gillies, 17, from Oxford School, Cowley, said: “My mum supports me in what I am doing, but it is my choice.

“We do have our own voice, and these comments are an insult to my parents.”

Ella Raff, 17, a pupil at Cherwell School, North Oxford, added: “A lot of parents are proud of their children who are trying to make a difference.”

And Juliet Romanis, whose daughter Chloe, a pupil at Cheney School, met Mr Mitchell last night, said the council leader was engaging in “playground politics”.

She said: “I would rather talk to my children about things and know what they are doing, than have no knowledge about what they are getting up to.”

Meanwhile, teachers’ unions have called on Mr Mitchell to apologise for using a blog entry to question whether teachers were encouraging pupils to ‘bunk-off’ school to attend Tuesday’s protest.

The Council of Oxfordshire Teacher Organisations last night issued a statement saying: “The fact that we share many of the concerns expressed by our students does not give Mr Mitchell the right to make accusations with no shred of evidence.”

Mr Mitchell said he made no connection between teachers and the ‘hard left’, and schools had tried their best to prevent under-16s leaving school to protest.

But he said: “There is a militant tendency in Oxford which, in my view, would not stop at violence and criminal damage.”