Berlin  - German school pupils demonstrating in Berlin Wednesday damaged a Holocaust-related exhibition, officials at Humboldt University in the capital said.

About 1,000 young people - school attenders in Germany are sometimes 20 or even older - swarmed inside the main building of the university to "occupy" it, climbing onto ledges above its grand portico.

The university said, "parts of the main building were damaged in the rioting." It said the parts included panels of a display about Jewish businesses and how they struggled on under the Nazis.

Police said they had been expecting a peaceful protest and were surprised at the violence and destruction, but they were still compiling details. Pupils draped trees and bushed with masses of toilet paper.

The incident followed a rally by 5,000 pupils in Berlin, part of a national day of protest at poor performance and under-funding of Germany's school systems.

The German school system has been criticized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for failing to educate less-able pupils and children from ethnic minorities. (dpa)