An estimated 20,000 police officers marched through London today in a protest over their pay deal.

Wearing white baseball caps with the logo "fair play for police", the off-duty officers from all over the country walked from Park Lane to Millbank passing close to the Houses of Parliament through Westminster and Whitehall.

Two people were arrested when a band of about 20 people from the anarchist group Class War attempted to stage a counter demonstration.

The group displayed banners and tried at one point to impede the march but sources said they were "somewhat outnumbered".

culmination of weeks of wrangling over a government imposed pay settlement. Alan Gordon, vice-chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: "We are staggered by the turn-out. We want a dignified march that causes the minimum disruption for Londoners. People are very angry but, being cops, we are not having demonstrations or showing our anger, we will be dignified."

One protester, Pc Michael Ramsden of Thames Valley police, said: "I feel we have been lied to. We have no confidence in the Home Secretary at all."

Officers claim that because their 2.5 per cent increase was backdated to 1 December instead of 1 September, it is effectively only a 1.9 per cent rise. In Scotland, the Scottish government agreed to backdate the increase fully to 1 September, as recommended by the Police Arbitration Tribunal.

The Police Federation has applied for a judicial review of the decision by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

Mick Powell, a West Midlands officer, said 43 coachloads of officers had travelled to the capital from his force.

Others included a group of police cyclists from Devon and Cornwall who had cycled to London.

Mark Crake of the Metropolitan Police Federation said he estimated around 3,000 officers from his force - about 10 per cent of the total - had turned out.

He said: "The numbers are much higher than we expected. All these officers are doing this on their day off and the show of numbers ref lects the strength of feeling about this issue."

Pc Ian Chilcot, 28, from Haringey police, said: "This is a last option for us. We are not on the breadline but it is the principle. It is a very different kind of job and we want to be treated fairly."

Pc Neil Hunwick, 41, from Hackney, said: "We go out and put our lives on the line and we deserve to be treated fairly. People are angry that one minute we're being praised for doing a good job and the next this happens."

Gordon Brown was forced to defend the pay award this afternoon. Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, he told MPs: "There has been a 39 per cent rise in police pay over the last 10 years. I think people do understand that in the fight against inflation it was necessary to stage public sector pay awards."

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