Thousands march in London against austerity

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 traveled 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.

Organizers 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.