May Day protesters in court

The cost of the damage is estimated at £500,000

Anti-capitalist demonstrators have appeared in court as workers continue cleaning up the aftermath of the May Day protest in London.

Police arrested 95 people after the event, billed as a peaceful protest, descended in to violence and destruction.

The people that committed this damage will be held to account for those crimes

Metropolitan Police

Nine police officers were injured as protesters attacked shops, restaurants, cars and monuments, including a statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, and the Cenotaph.

Some of those appearing in court in central London on Tuesday received jail sentences, while others were fined or remanded on bail.

Charges ranged from violent disorder, criminal damage and to being drunk and disorderly. More arrests are expected.

In an angry statement, Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned the actions of violent protesters as "mindless thuggery".

"To deface the Cenotaph and the statue of Winston Churchill is simply beneath contempt," he said.

"It is only because of the bravery and courage of our war dead that these idiots can live in a free country at all."

Statue of Sir Winston Churchill was defaced

But police have also come in for criticism from some national newspapers for not intervening earlier when demonstrators started tearing up the grass in the centre of Parliament Square and defacing the monuments.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Mike Todd said he was satisfied with his officers' performance.

"They handled this in a professional proportionate manner. They put up with enormous provocation from a small minority of protesters. I think they did a damn good job," he said.

He pledged that the culprits responsible for the damage would be brought to justice.

Home Secretary Jack Straw told the Commons that the Metropolitan Police Commissioner John Stevens was reviewing Sunday's events and the government would respond to any recommendations.

It is thought the bill for repairing the damage and paying for the emergency services could come to £500,000.

Court appearances

Among those appearing in court on Monday was designer Jan Erlstedt, 31, from, Britwell, Slough, Berkshire, who admitted obstructing the highway in the Strand.

He alleged he sat down in protest after seeing police attacking a girl. He was fined £100 and bound over in the sum of £400 to keep the peace for the next six months.

Alan McAlve, a 38-year-old bed-maker from, Rochester, Kent, was jailed for 90 days after admitting using threatening words or behaviour.

A minority of protesters were responsible for the vandalism

He was jointly charged with 30-year-old warehouse worker Brendan Farnan, of Lansbury Drive, Hayes, west London, who was given 14 days in prison, sentence suspended for 12 months, after the court heard that he had played a minor role in the incident.

British Telecom telephonist Richard Stephens was jailed for 14 days after admitting using threatening words or behaviour.

The court heard that Stephens, 28, of Wells Road, Bristol, was one of a group of 10 to 12 people standing on the plinth of Nelson's Column.

Police saw him throwing a bottle, which the prosecution accepted might have been plastic, at some advancing police officers.

Stephens said he had travelled to London for the annual Trade Union march but got lost and ended up in Trafalgar Square, and added that he had nothing to do with the anti-capitalism demonstration.

Loretta Osbourne, 34, of Bow Street, central London, was conditionally discharged for six months after admitting obstructing the highway at Charing Cross Road. Osbourne told the court: "I went there for a peaceful demonstration. I sat down on the road and did not know that this was an offence.

"I did not hear any of the warnings the police gave. When two officers came towards me I just froze."