King’s College London is to order an independent review of its security procedures after a group of students said they were singled out as troublemakers and barred from campus during a visit by the Queen.

The 10 undergraduates say they are exploring legal action against KCL after their security passes were blocked and they were unable to attend lectures or go into libraries on Tuesday morning and early afternoon.

The Queen and the Duchess of Cambridge visited the university’s Strand campus to open a new facility in Bush House, but at least one of the students was blocked by KCL’s security system from using his pass at the Denmark Hill campus several miles away.

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The group say they were targeted because they are members of student political organisations, including Justice for Cleaners, which has successfully campaigned for the university to end its use of outsourced cleaners and security guards, and Action Palestine. Eight of the group are Muslim.

Nicola Phillips, KCL’s vice-president for education, said in an email to students on Friday: “Some members of our community have raised complaints about how arrangements for the Bush House opening, particularly those relating to access to buildings, were managed during the event.”

Phillips apologised “for the fact that this caused some disruption” and said KCL was “commissioning a full and independent review of the arrangements to assess the processes that were followed”.

The university did not respond to questions about why the students were barred from campus, how many were affected or how they were selected.

The barred students said KCL’s response was evidence that it was out of touch with what took place. “They have pledged to conduct a review of how this decision was made. This only demonstrates how incompetent or heartless they are, to have racially and politically profiled students and allude to not even knowing how they did so,” the group said.

“There can be no faith in that review if there is zero acknowledgement of the actual concerns that have been raised or actual engagement with the students affected.”

Several of the students said they attempted to get into university buildings to attend classes, only to discover their names appeared to be on a list of students barred from campus that day.

One of the students, Riobhca, who did not want her surname published, said she tried to enter KCL’s Strand campus on Tuesday morning to give a presentation as part of her coursework, only to find her pass was blocked while other students in her class entered as normal.

“I went up to reception and said my ID is not working. I gave them my student ID and the staff member looked it up and you could see something was wrong,” she said.

The staff member consulted a list of names and numbers, the student said. “Then she said: ‘I’m sorry, you can’t get into the building today until 2pm.’ And I said: ‘But I have a graded presentation to give at 11am – and the [course] guidelines say if you don’t turn up you get a zero.’ And she said: ‘I’m sorry, you can’t get in until 2pm.’

“I got really upset because I had a graded presentation and I really didn’t want to fail. It really upset me. I started crying and I said: ‘Please, you have to let me, I really do have a presentation to give, I’m begging you.’

“I saw some people from my class and shouted at them to vouch for me. I was literally watching people from my class go through security. I was just watching loads of people go through while I couldn’t.”

Eventually, after discussions with the university’s central security staff, the student was given a visitor’s pass.

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Other members of the group made videos of KCL staff, including one said to be the university’s head of security, telling them: “We were under instructions from the Metropolitan police to refuse access to Bush House due to the event that was taking place. That is all I can say to you.”

Another video shows a KCL staff member telling students: “There are a number of protesters who have been visible at a number of protests over the last year, two years. You’re identifiable because you were on CCTV.”

The students said the university seemed intent on creating a hostile environment for activists, even as it embraced the campaign against outsourcing cleaning staff.

“In this specific case I think they were worried about even the chance of a protest and what publicity that might bring,” said Tom, another of the students. “And they thought it was just easier to shut people out.”