Police clashed with violent groups at several flashpoints in central London Nearly 200 people remain in custody, a day after unrest overshadowed a peaceful anti-cuts protest in London.
Two people have been charged after a mob attacked police officers, smashed windows, and daubed banks and shops with paint on Saturday.
Most of the 201 arrests were made after a campaign group staged a sit-in at a luxury store in Piccadilly.
Scotland Yard said the violent groups' behaviour "could not have been more markedly different" from the TUC march.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said the government will not change its economic strategy as a result of the TUC protest.
He told the BBC's Politics Show: "Certainly we're listening. I talk regularly to the trade union movement, I think it's important we have a dialogue with them but we're not going to change the basic economic strategy.
"No government - coalition, Labour or other - would change its fundamental economic policy simply in response to a demonstration of that kind."
The TUC said 250,000 to 500,000 people attended the march, which passed off without incident.
But a group, wearing scarves to hide their faces, started attacking shops and banks well away from the march, clashing with some of the 4,500 police on duty. Trouble flared in Oxford Street, Piccadilly and Trafalgar Square.
The main organisation involved in the protest was the TUC.
It organised the rally which attracted more than 250,000 demonstrators. Its message was that the government's spending cuts go too far. Other protests were staged by a variety of activists.
The UK Uncut group aims to highlight what it describes as the inequality of the British legal and tax system which it claims enables wealthy individuals and firms to pay a fraction of the tax of smaller. It aims to use direct action but does not advocate violence.
That cannot be said of a third group out in force - anarchists and anti-capitalists appear to have used the cover of the march - and UK Uncut protest - to target what they see as symbols of capitalism.
Many retailers are privately livid that the image of ruined shop fronts might damage their business in the long run.
The Metropolitan Police said 201 people were arrested during Saturday, and 199 of those were still being held in various London police stations on Sunday evening.
The two men charged have been released on bail ahead of court appearances.
A 17-year-old from Manchester has been accused of possession of an offensive weapon and going equipped for criminal damage.
Omar Ibrahim, 31, of Baillieston, Glasgow, was charged with violent disorder and assault on police outside Topshop in Oxford Street.
The Met said 145 of the arrests were in connection with a demonstration by campaigners UK Uncut, which occupied luxury grocery store Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly in protest over alleged tax avoidance by the business's part owners.
Commander Bob Broadhurst, who led the police operation, revealed the activists had developed their tactics to avoid police by keeping mobile, using small alleyways and covering their faces.
"Their intent appeared to be causing havoc, with no concern at all for those people in central London they were putting in danger," he said.
"Officers came under attack, fires were set and shops attacked. These are criminal acts and I cannot call them anything different."
The BBC's John McManus was in Trafalgar Square as the clean-up operation got under way
The force has faced some criticism of the way it handled the protest, with former Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick saying officers should have done more to protect property.
But London's deputy mayor Kit Malthouse said officers had a "difficult balance" to strike between policing the main demonstration and unrelated incidents of violence including attacks by anarchist groups.
Order was restored in the early hours of Sunday after some people were contained by police for several hours in Trafalgar Square.
There were 84 reported injuries during the protests, including at least 31 police, with 11 officers requiring hospital treatment, five of whom were discharged and six were awaiting treatment.
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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-12876705
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