NHS budget freezes, £9,000 tuition fees, £100m arts cuts, decreased corporation tax, £350m business deregulation; the list goes on. So March for the Alternative, organised by the TUC on Saturday 26th March, had quite a lot to shout about. The night before the march, I travelled down to London on an overnight bus with students from Edinburgh to take part in the biggest national demonstration since the Iraq war.

Arriving into London after a night nurse-induced coma, a chocolate bar and can of coke provided adequate sustenance for the day ahead (it’s fine; I had sandwiches on the bus). As we joined the ULU feeder march at 10am, there was already a buzz about the place. Megaphones began to bawl, whistles started to squeal and a distinct anti-Tory DJ Otzi chant spread around the crowd. With what must have been close to a couple thousand people already gathering, the day looked set to be a one of unity. Marching through the streets of London we soon arrived at the main TUC demonstration, where we would walk past the Houses of Parliament and on to Hyde Park. There was an uplifting irony as we waited to merge with the seemingly unending queue of protesters: the longer the wait, the more people there were. This was big. It gave us the chance to look over who made up the mob around us; some students from Sussex to the right, some students from Glasgow to the left. And in a weird sort of anti-establishment one-upmanship, both groups chanted about how they hated Tories more than the other. Brilliant.

As the march rolled along towards Parliament it was overwhelming to see the varying reasons why people were protesting; from students to the elderly, from anti-trident banners to anti-tyrant placards, there was a characteristic sense of “we’ve had enough”. In Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story, an article shared between banks and corporations detailed how the only challenge they may face is if the working people of America unite and fight back, and it was their job to make sure it didn’t happen. And as 400,000 people swarmed the streets of London and made their voices heard from Parliament to Park Lane, the people of the UK rocked the ideology of our government, and set in motion a trend which needs to continue.

This was more than just a march against the cuts: it was a chance for the British public to come together both socially and politically

Splitting from the main march, we headed up through Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly to see what was happening: The Ritz had been paint-bombed. An article written by Christopher Phelps suggested how certain ‘anarchist’ groups are, essentially, middle-class timewasters who don’t understand their recklessness as they seem to confuse civil disobedience with hooliganism. But, can The Ritz feel pain? Is it justifiable to metaphorise the injustices of the rich/poor divide in the UK by smearing the image of an elite monopoly? People talk of the death of radicalism in political Britain and I for one am happy to see a rise in social activism once more.

And yet, for all the day’s anger and frustration, for all its anarchy and rebellion, it was fun. Students and workers danced in Oxford Circus, Trafalgar Square was transformed into a drum-arena, bands and boombikes flooded the streets around Leicester Square. In Hyde Park, thousands roared to guest speakers and to the very scale of the march itself. This was more than just a march against the cuts, or even for an alternative itself: it was a chance for the British public to come together both socially and politically.

And a word on the perceived ‘hijacking’ of the demo by ‘anarchist groups’ – Vince Cable stated that this march will not derail the government’s strategy on fiscal cutbacks… so what will? Whilst I have nothing against artistic banners, sewn and stitched both elegantly and creatively, do we need to do something more? Are tax-dodging companies such as Vodafone and Topshop preliminary institutions which people can rage against? Planning, preparation and practice all go into the mix when the government generate an ideological system of cutbacks, so the same groundwork must go into our rejection of them.

To see my photograph album from the day: click here