Million Mask March: Three police officers injured and 50 protesters arrested at anti-austerity demo

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Three police officers are being treated in hospital after the Million Mask March in London in which protesters threw fireworks at horses and set fire to a police car.

Scotland Yard said nearly 50 arrests were made, predominantly for public order offences.

Two men were arrested for assaulting police officers and remain in custody along with three men aged 38,50 and 55 who were arrested on suspicion of being in possession of offensive weapons.

Police say they recovered "a range of items including knives, smoke and paint grenades, gas canisters and lock picks" from the three men.

A police car was torched in Millbank during the protest with fireworks and traffic cones being thrown at police.

The march, organised by hacktivist group Anonymous to protest against government cuts, started peacefully with singing and chanting at Trafalgar Square from people wearing "Guido" masks.

It was one of around 670 demonstrations in cities across the world against perceived inequality created by government policies.

But the demonstration soon descended into violence as some protesters broke away from the agreed route to march down to Buckingham Palace and Green Park where they threw fireworks and flares at police horses.

One animal is reported to have bolted after an explosive whizzed past its head.

Several bloodied people were seen being treated by emergency crews and mounted officers formed human shields around sections of Westminster closed off to surging protesters.

Many protesters carried placards bearing the message "One solution: Revolution", although other pockets screamed "Whose streets? Our streets" as confused tourists looked on and took pictures.

One activist, who gave her name as Lola, said she had travelled from Hull to the capital to speak up for others.

She said: "There are people who aren't represented, they should be here. I am the people.

"The media twist it. We are peaceful, we are doing this in a peaceful manner, but the media focus on the 1% who cause trouble."

Self-proclaimed anarchist Aztecarna Peatonito, from Mexico, said he wanted a peaceful way of spreading a message against inequality.

He said: "We tried for six years to get the press to take us seriously. It is only when we wore the masks that we started getting attention.

"Anyone who is violent is not with us."

Additional reporting by PA