Tens of thousands of people joined an anti-austerity march through central London on Saturday, the first major public protest since Prime Minister David Cameron won last month's general election. Demonstrators, some of whom had travelled from across Britain, carried placards with slogans such as "End Austerity Now" and "No Cuts" as they snaked through the city from the Bank of England to the Houses of Parliament.
Organisers claimed that as many as 250,000 people had joined the march. While police would not put a figure on attendance, they said there had been no arrests and no violence, although a series of flares were let off. Sian Bloor, a 45-year-old teacher from near Manchester, north-west England, said she was marching because government austerity measures had had a "huge impact" on her school. "I regularly bring clothes and shoes for children and biscuits for their breakfast, just so they get something to eat," she said. "You can see how children are being affected by the cuts."

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2015

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