London student leader Daniel Cooper yesterday accused police officers of "racial profiling" after being arrested for trying to stop a nightclub drugs search.

Mr Cooper arrived at Royal Holloway Students' Union on Friday evening to find that more than a dozen cops were searching students using sniffer dogs.

He told the Star: "I went to visit some old friends and go out with the current students' union officers.

"I saw a number of searches taking place, particularly of black students.

"One student that I didn't know told me it was the second time he'd been stopped and searched and he'd only been there 20 minutes."

The University of London Union vice-president described how he was wrestled to the ground and arrested when he challenged the officers.

"They pushed me into a room and tackled me to the floor in quite an aggressive way, three of them leaned with their knees onto the back of my thigh," he said.

"I did obstruct and intervene in the stop and search because I believed it to be an act of racial profiling."

Mr Cooper was later released with a caution.

A spokeswoman for Royal Holloway defended the police search as a "routine drugs education and awareness exercise."

She said: "They had been invited at the request of the student's union commercial services team.

"The students who were searched were those who had provoked a reaction from the passive drugs dog. The students who only provoked a minor reaction from the dog were not searched."

But she revealed that "no drugs were found."

Royal Holloway's Anti-Cuts Alliance is now planning a protest on Wednesday morning against police intimidation.

In a statement it said: "The extensive and heavy-handed police presence created an unsafe and intimidating environment.

"We call on the principal and his management team to join us in condemning the arrest of Daniel Cooper and demand they revoke the police's permission to parade on campus uninvited by students."

Police did not respond to the Star's request for a comment.