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Activists responsible for violence in London over the weekend have been condemned as "thugs" by both Theresa May and Yvette Cooper.
Speaking in the House of Commons this afternoon the home secretary said "gangs of thugs carried out acts of violence against police, private property and public monuments".
May told MPs that 56 police officers had been injured in the protest and 12 had required hospital treatment. She said 53 members of the public were also hurt.
And she confirmed that 200 people had been arrested as a result of the trouble, with 149 had already having been charged.
It is estimated up to 500,000 protesters gathered in the capital to take part in a TUC organised demonstration against the government's plans to cut public spending.
Ministers argue that while they do not want to cut as much as they are it is necessary to bring down Britain's deficit.
While the demo was largely good natured trouble flared in the late afternoon in the West End and in Trafalgar Square where the police 'kettled' some protestors.
The protest group UK Uncut occupied the up-market food retailer Fortnum and Mason.
The group advocates direct action to target businesses they believe exploit tax loopholes to avoid contributing their fair share to the Treasury.
UK Uncut has denied involvement in the violence in London's West End which has been attributed to "anarchists" and "anti-capitalists".
May indicated she would examine handing the police new powers including the ability to ban known trouble makers from attending demos and to force people to remove head coverings.
"We will always back the police when they do their important work and we will back them as they do everything they can to bring these mindless thugs to justice," she told the Commons.
Her words were matched by the shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper who criticised the "few hundred mindless idiots and thugs" who she said tarnished the wider demonstration against the coalition's programme of cuts.
"In a democracy this kind of violence is no form of political protest," she said.
But Cooper attacked Boris Johnson for engaging in the "worst kind of politics" by suggesting in a Telegraph article that Ed Miliband and Ed Balls would be "quietly satisfied by the disorder".
Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman said the Mayor's comments were "shallow, simple and plain wrong".
"Instead of attacking the Labour leader, Boris Johnson should be listening to the hundreds of thousands of people who marched peacefully," she said.
Ed Miliband addressed demonstrators in Hyde Park on Saturday and told them he was standing up for the "mainstream majority" hit by spending cuts.
But the Labour leader has attracted criticism for appearing to compare himself to Nelson Mandela.
He told demonstrators: "We come in the traditions that have marched in peaceful but powerful protest for justice, fairness and political change.
"The suffragettes who fought for votes for women and won. The civil rights movement in America that fought against racism and won. The anti-apartheid movement that fought the horror of that system and won."
This morning Downing Street said the prime minister supported the right of people to protest peacefully but believed a "small number of people" had been "intent on causing trouble" and that they would "feel the full force of the law".
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