HUNDREDS of angry protesters took to the streets of Finchley in a mass rally against planned cuts to local and national services.

Around 600 people joined a protest march organised by Barnet Alliance for Public Services (BAPS) from Finchley Central Tube station to the artsdepot, which faces losing its grant form Barnet Council.

Along the route there were boos as the crowd passed the home of Tory GLA member and councillor Brian Coleman and the offices of Tory MPs Mike Freer and Matthew Offord, in Ballards Lane.

Among the marchers were people from sheltered housing, the anti-academies alliance and the public sector union UNISON.

John Burgess, Barnet UNISON branch secretary, told the assembled group the Government and council were “afraid of you protesting”.

The leader of the Labour group on the council Alison Moore, who was joined by many of her party members on the protest, praised the amount of people who had come out on a cold Sunday morning.

She said: “I think it's fantastic. It's really beginning to show the strength of feeling against the plans by this Government and council.

“People are not just going to lie down and take these things, their services are under threat because of the scale of the cutbacks.”

Sixties favourites The Foundations are headlining a Rock Against The Cuts event at the artsdepot this afternoon.