Andrew Watt, 17, secretary of Stroud Young Labour Party, said: "We were at the march to protect our future and our public services from savage Government cuts. I think we need to make some cuts but they are being done too fast and the poorest will be hit the hardest."

Town and district councillor Chris Brine, a member of Stonehouse Labour Party, said: "People from all over the country exercised their right to demonstrate. The Greens, Labour and the Socialist Party all joined forces to demonstrate a common view – that there is an alternative to cuts."

Former Stroud MP David Drew, a member of Stonehouse Labour Party, said: "This just shows how many people are appalled by the cuts. There were a lot of community people there who are fed up with their budgets being ravaged by the cuts. People are making their voices heard and hopefully they will be listened to."

District councillor Martin Whiteside, a member of Stroud Green Party, said: "It was great to see so many young people there. It is their future and they are making sure that the Government will not destroy their future. Our parents built a welfare state to be proud of and we do not want to lose that."

Town and district councillor John Marjoram, of Stroud Green Party, said: "This is a moment in history that means change is underfoot. I think the amount of destruction to our public services is dawning on people. They are realising they will never get these things back again. I think we need much more opposition everywhere before the Government starts listening. The Coalition sees this as an opportunity to break up public services and bring the private sector in, and as you can see from the turn out, a lot of people are not happy about this."

James Beecher, from UK Uncut and Stroud Against The Cuts, said: "I think the protest will have changed people’s minds – before the march there was a feeling that there was not much opposition to the cuts but now it is quite clear that it is a subject people are passionate about."

Chris Moore, a member of the Socialist Party and Stroud Against The Cuts, said: "The turn out from Stroud was great. I felt it was a huge demonstration against Government policies and enormous anger at what the Government is doing to public services. We now need to build support and take strike action to force change. I think that peacefully occupying a place is fine but I am not in favour of buildings being smashed up – that allows the police to use more oppressive powers in the next demonstration, like stop and search."

A member of the Anarchist Federation, a 23-year-old student who wished to remain anonymous, gave his view to the SNJ. He said: "I witnessed a lot of direct action – banks and high profile shops guilty of tax avoidance, being occupied and smashed up. We cannot just march from A to B and expect the banks to listen to us but by taking direct action, we can show our strength. We believe that the whole system has to go. We need to reform it otherwise it will always exploit people for profit. Of course getting rid of capitalism is a huge task but on a smaller scale using direct action such as occupation and damage to property, to make services unworkable, shows a culture of resistance."