The Black Bloc march through Chinatown. Photo: Germaine Arnold

Hundreds of thousands of people descended on the centre of London last Saturday for the TUC ‘March for the Alternative’, in a largely peaceful protest  against government cuts to public services.

However, there were late clashes in Trafalgar Square between a minority of demonstrators and police, that lasted until early this morning as protestors were “contained”.

There were also pockets of violence across the West End, in the afternoon, specifically centring on the Piccadilly area. Anarchists paint bombed shops and windows and doors were smashed, while Fortnum and Mason was occupied and there were 75 arrests. The arrest figure has since risen to over 200.

Estimates placed the number of protestors at between 200,000 and 300,000 which makes the action the largest union-organised demonstration in 20 years and the largest protest in Britain since the anti-war demonstration in 2003.

At a rally in Hyde Park, leader of the Labour Party, Ed Milliband, gave a speech to the crowd saying that the marchers represented the mainstream majority across the UK.

To see how the day’s events as they happened, head over to our live blog of the march.

Photographs by Seb Wheeler and Germaine Arnold