Anti-austerity campaigners launched impromptu protests across Britain, less than 48 hours after David Cameron was returned to power with a parliamentary majority.
Hundreds of people joined demonstrations in Wales and central London following the surprise Conservative election victory. About 200 people were involved in clashes with police outside Downing Street, throwing green smoke bombs and tomato ketchup at officers in riot gear.
Fifteen people were arrested and the Metropolitan police said that four officers and a member of police staff had been injured during the protests.
Singer Charlotte Church joined a more sedate march in Cardiff where she accused the Conservatives of “dismantling” the NHS.
Activists used Twitter and other social media to arrange the meeting on Saturday afternoon in Whitehall outside Tory party headquarters. Police officers shut Whitehall for several hours while they tried to contain the demonstrators.
A Met spokesman said they were investigating claims that some of the protesters had sprayed anti-Tory graffiti on the the monument to the women of the second world war on Whitehall.
The spokesman said they had been “dealing with an unplanned protest” outside Downing Street and had been trying to minimise the disruption to traffic.
Police estimated that about 100 people had taken part in the protests, although marchers claimed several thousand people had been involved.
Shelly Asquith, president of the University of the Arts Students’ Union, posted videos online of what she said was police violence directed at the protesters. She posted messages saying: “Thousands marching through Westminster chanting ‘Tories Out’, and ‘75% didn’t vote Tory’.”
Asquith and others involved in the demonstration complained that police had kettled one section of the activists in Parliament Square, forcing them to stay at the scene until they had been processed by officers.
The rally in Cardiff was a more peaceful affair, which began with a march through the city centre.
Church announced her involvement with a tweet that said: “If you still have fire in your belly over yesterday’s result come and join us in an anti-austerity rally!”
As she walked to the rally in Cardiff’s Queen Street, she clutched a homemade placard that said: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.”
In an interview with Wales Online, Church said: “This week the UK masochistically condemned itself to five years of Tory rule.
“Without the Liberal Democrats to centre them they have no restraints, nothing to stop them from destroying our welfare system, selling off our health service and even making constraints upon democracy.”
Church accused the new government of intending to abolish statutory maternity pay and cutting all benefits for anyone under 25.
“I care about people,” she said. “I really love people. I don’t care if they are poor or rich – life is tough. I’ve paid all of my taxes since I was 12 years old and I’ve been happy to contribute. The NHS was a massive issue for the electorate and they are dismantling it.”
- This article was amended on 10 May 2015 to correct the number of people arrested.
