The AP reports that the son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour issued a public apology Friday for climbing atop of one of Britain's most important war memorials during violent student demonstrations against rising university fees.

Charlie Gilmour, 21, said he was sorry for the "terrible insult" to the thousands who died for the country. Gilmour — a Cambridge University history student — said he did not realize that the monument he climbed was the Cenotaph, which commemorates Britain's war dead.

"I feel nothing but shame," he said. "My intention was not to attack or defile the Cenotaph. Running along with a crowd of people who had just been violently repelled by the police, I got caught up in the spirit of the moment."

Gilmour is the child of writer and journalist Polly Samson and her first husband, the poet Heathcote Williams. He was adopted by the Pink Floyd musician after he and Samson married.

Gilmour was among thousands of students and youths protesting in the streets of London on Thursday. The demonstrations turned violent when some students vandalized buildings and threw objects at police. Some attacked a car carrying Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, to a royal function. The couple was unharmed.