400,000 march in cuts protest

Firefighters, teachers, nurses and families with young children were among the crowds that marched through the capital to show their anger at Budget cuts to public services.

In a huge police presence designed to head off the violent scenes, which marred a demonstration against rises in university tuition fees earlier this year, about 4,500 officers were on duty in central London.

But although the main group of the marchers demonstrated peacefully and walked along the pre-planned route from the Embankment to Hyde Park, where a mass rally was held, a breakaway group of several hundred protesters attacked shops and banks in the Oxford Street area.

Scotland Yard said lightbulbs filled with ammonia and smoke grenades were thrown at officers. At least 202 protesters were arrested, while five officers were injured, one of whom was hospitalised.

The Trades Congress Union estimated that at least 400,000 activists took to the streets in one of the biggest anti- government demonstrations in political history.

Dave Prentis, the general- secretary of the Unison union, said the turnout was "absolutely enormous and showed the anger of ordinary working people at the government's cuts".

TUC general-secretary Brendan Barber said: "Ministers should now seriously reconsider their whole strategy after today's demonstration. This has been Middle Britain speaking."

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He added that the unions would now step up pressure on the government and launch a series of protests this week in defence of the NHS. The rally was addressed by Labour leader Ed Miliband, who told protesters that the coalition was wrong to make such deep cuts in public services. He was heckled by a small number of protesters when he said "some cuts" were needed, but most people applauded his speech.

Miliband said: "Our struggle is to fight to preserve, protect and defend the best of the services we cherish because they represent the best of the country we love.

"We know what the government will say: that this is a march of the minority. They are so wrong. David Cameron: you wanted to create the Big Society – this is the Big Society.

"The Big Society united against what your government is doing to our country. We stand today not as the minority, but as the voice of the mainstream majority in this country."

The march attracted a variety of people from all walks of life and professions.

Dave Moxham, the deputy general-secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, which chartered three trains and 20 buses so people could join the crowds, estimated that about 10,000 Scots had travelled to Hyde Park.

"I've heard there's been a couple of small pockets of trouble, but the atmosphere on the march today has been family-friendly and really good," he said. "Everyone here can leave in good heart and go back to start and continue their campaigns locally."

Edinburgh University graduate Anna Fenton, 24, who works in radio production, said: "I'm here for the simple fact that the cost of living is rapidly rising but wages are staying the same. My dad works for the NHS and he is seeing his pension being significantly cut."

Alan Dowling, 40, works for the UK Border Agency in Sheffield and said the cuts there had prompted him to join yesterday's march, leaving home at 4.40am to head for London.

"The other day, the immigration minister was on TV saying we need to do more. How are we going to do more enforcement when we are cutting enforcement officers?" he asked.

Clio Hutchison, 24, from London, who is training to be a doctor, said: "I'm particularly angry about cuts that will erode the NHS. The NHS needs to be nourished, not starved. I just hope that the government has heard our unified voice today."

Earlier, Education Secretary Michael Gove acknowledged the public concerns about the planned cuts, but insisted that the government would not be deflected from its strategy.

"Of course people will feel a sense of disquiet, in some cases anger, at what they see happening, but the difficulty we have, inheriting a terrible economic mess, is that we have to take steps to bring the public finances back into balance."

Yesterday, First Minister Alex Salmond and Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray sent messages of support to the marchers, adding that the cuts were too deep and too fast.

Salmond said: "The Scottish Government united with the other devolved administrations to send a joint declaration to the Chancellor, calling on the UK government to reverse a damaging and flawed policy of imposing spending cuts which are far too fast and far too deep."

Gray said: "If anyone needs a visual reminder of the anger directed at the Tories, this is it."