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A man holds up a banner reading 'Austerity - That's Enough' as a march to protest the government's austerity measures prepares to set off from the Embankment in London on Friday.

Updated at 8:25 a.m ET: LONDON - Thousands of anti-austerity protesters marched in London on Saturday to protest against public spending cuts enacted by a government fighting off accusations that it is run by an upper-class elite that ignores the plight of recession-hit voters. 

The march comes at a time when Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative-led coalition is reeling from the resignation on Friday of a senior minister accused of calling police "plebs," a class-laden insult for working people. 

Conservatives faced a barrage of negative headlines on Saturday over the departure of Andrew Mitchell, the "Chief Whip" or party enforcer, four weeks after he swore at police guarding the gates to Cameron's Downing Street office. 

Class wars: 'Gate-gate' scandal swamps UK PM David Cameron

A second row involving George Osborne, the finance minister -- who sat in a first class train carriage with a standard class ticket before paying for an upgrade -- played into the hands of critics who say the Conservatives are privileged and out-of-touch. 

"Who Do They Think They Are?" asked the Daily Mail newspaper in a front page headline, while the Financial Times said the bad news over Mitchell and Osborne capped a "dismal week for the Tories", the center-right party that is trailing in the polls. 

Nurses, cleaners, librarians and ambulance drivers are among tens of thousands marching past the Houses of Parliament to a rally in Hyde Park in one of the biggest anti-austerity protests this year. Marches will also take place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Glasgow, Scotland. 

General strike?
Under grey autumnal skies, police closed roads around parliament in Westminster before the start of the march at 1100 GMT (6 a.m. ET). 

Trade union leaders are seeking to pile more pressure on Cameron at the event where they will tell protesters that the government's economic plan has failed, prolonging Britain's second recession since the financial crisis. 

Greek strike turns violent: 'Enough is enough'

The head of the head of the RMT transport workers union was set to say that Saturday's march was a step towards a nationwide strike, Sky News reported.

"The marches are a building block towards the objective of coordinated action and a general strike.  That is why RMT says, march today, strike tomorrow," Bob Crow was planning to say, Sky News reported without citing a source.

Reuters reported that Brendan Barber, head of the Trades Union Congress, an umbrella group which represents 54 unions, planned to say the following:

"Austerity isn't working. It is hammering the poorest and the most vulnerable ... Ministers told us that if we only accept the pain, recovery would come. Instead we have been mired in a double-dip recession." 

Coalition under pressure
The coalition government has responded to calls from unions and the opposition Labour Party to do more to boost growth by relaxing planning laws and boosting lending to businesses. 

A downsized parade as Spain's celebrates national day amidst austerity cuts

But its latest attempt to ease the pressure on squeezed households backfired this week when Cameron said the government would legislate to force energy companies to give customers their lowest tariff. The surprise announcement appeared to take his own ministers by surprise and sowed confusion over what he meant and whether it would actually happen. 

However, Sajid Javid, a Conservative Treasury minister, said the government was right to focus on cutting borrowing and that data last week indicating a fall in unemployment and inflation showed that its economic policies were on track. 

"There is a still a lot to do," he told Sky News. "I don't pretend for a second that we are out of the woods, but this government is facing up to the problem, it is not sticking its head in the sand like (Labour opposition leader) Ed Miliband." 

Asked about the perception that the Conservatives are out of touch, he said: "I think that what matters is what is actually happening out there in the real world." 

Spain, Portugal hit with anti-austerity protests

Opponents of the unions say the government should stick to its plan to eliminate a budget deficit that stood at 8 percent of gross domestic product last year, the biggest of any major European country. 

"The government must not listen to militant union leaders," said Mark Littlewood, director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, which describes itself as an independent free-market thinktank. "The cuts we have seen are tiny and further concessions to these protesters would be wholly unaffordable." 

Reuters contributed to this report.

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LONDON -- If there’s one sound nobody expects to hear at a Paralympic gold medal ceremony, it’s booing - let alone the sound of the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium crowd jeering in unison. 

But that’s exactly what happened Monday evening when British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, who is in charge of steering the country’s economy out of its current doldrums, was introduced to present medals for the men’s (T38) 400-meter race.

Video clips of Osborne's embarrassed reaction quickly went viral.

His anticipated cuts to public welfare spending, which have angered many in the disabled community, may have been behind the huge boo.

'Meet the Superhumans': Paralympians burst onto world stage

Adam Hills, disabled comedian and host of Channel 4’s “The Last Leg” program, joked: “Who went, ‘Hmm, who's the best person to give out medals to disabled people? I know, the guy in charge of funding cuts for disabled people. That won’t go wrong!’”

Most unpopular
A recent poll shows Osborne to be the most unpopular member of the British government, with 56 percent of voters saying he’s doing a “bad job” and 48 percent saying he should lose his job altogether.

Iraq vet: 'Now it's time to win' at Paralympics

Osborne seemed unfazed by his lack of popularity.

“If I was trying to win a popularity stakes, there are some easy things I could do. I could spend a lot more money –  that might make me popular in the short term,” he told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday.  “It’s not the right decision... In a difficult environment, it’s not surprising that the Chancellor is not the most popular member of the government.”

Prime Ministers get booed too
Obsorne wasn’t the only one to feel the crowd’s disdain. Over at the aquatics center, his boss Prime Minister David Cameron was also met with jeers.

Some booing could be heard as he stepped up to present 17-year-old British swimmer Ellie Simmonds with her gold medal for the 200m individual medley.

In this case, though, wild cheers erupted in favor Ellie, drowning out much of the booing and keeping the focus firmly on the champion.

More coverage of the London Paralympics from Britain's ITV News

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Matt Cardy / Getty Images, file

In days gone, pasties were the food of miners and farmers -- a robust parcel that (so legend has it) could be dropped steaming hot down a mine shaft or thrown over a high hedge to the agricultural laborers on the other side.

LONDON -- We're a placid bunch, us Brits.

You can call us names and poke us in the eye and we'll pretty much stand there and take it.

So pity the poor misguided chaps who run this country and who decided to try their luck by introducing a tax on ... pasties.

Man the barricades!

For those who are not among the cognoscenti, a pasty is a traditional and tasty food that resembles a meat and potato pie. It has almost iconic status in its place of origin, the distant and beautiful county of Cornwall.

In days gone by, it was the food of miners and farmers -- a robust parcel of pastry (so legend has it) that could be dropped steaming hot down a mine shaft to the menfolk below or thrown over a high hedge to the agricultural laborers on the other side.

According to folklore, in one end there was savory meat, spuds and turnip and -- on the other side of a pastry wall -- fruit jam.  Entree and dessert all in one steaming package.  Genius.

Wpa Pool / Getty Images, file

David Cameron eats a pastry during an election campaign stop on May 1, 2010 in Woodstock, southern England.

No wonder a simpler version was adopted all across the country.  It has become a staple of many a working lunch, snatched from the oven of a high street food store and wolfed down on the nearest bench or at a desk.

Library opened by Mark Twain falls victim to austerity cuts

So into this culinary sanctum stumbled the British government.  Always anxious to raise more cash in these dark days of austerity, the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne decided back in March to slap a 20 percent tax on hot snacks like pasties, pies and sausage rolls.

The plan was to raise an extra $150 million.

But Osborne -- a millionaire whose diet does not apparently include pasties -- had no idea that he was about to walk into a political furore that we have seldom seen since the 1990 Poll Tax riots. 

"Half-baked," screamed the tabloids.  "Save our pasties," the nation echoed as people licked their lips and bared their teeth.

A newspaper hired an actress dressed as Marie Antoinette to pursue the hapless Chancellor -- a reminder of her infamous quote that led to revolution across the Channel: "Let them (the poor) eat cake."

Justin Tallis / AFP – Getty Images

Bakers and their supporters hold pastries as they gather outside the prime minister's official residence in London in April to protest and deliver a petition against the so-called pasty tax.

The accident-prone Conservative-led government had walked into a minefield of meat and potato proportions. Politicians rushed to have their photos taken stuffing pasties down their throats.

NBC News' UK partner ITV News on pasty debate

Even Prime Minister David Cameron was wrong-footed when asked in Parliament when HE had last eaten a pasty.  He claimed to have done so at a shop that closed down some years ago. Ouch!

So yesterday Cameron and Osborne decided on a change of diet: humble pie.

The Sun's front page story on the British government's 'pastygate' climbdown on Tuesday.

In a humiliating climb-down, the government was forced to abandon its snack tax.

Well, almost.  In a wonderfully British muddle, pasties will avoid tax if they are hot but cooling down out of the oven.  If the shop keeps them hot -- that will be another 20 percent please.

Telegraph video: David Cameron remembers his last pasty

No matter.  Today's papers speak for the nation in declaring victory, with the mass market Sun saying it best: "Pasty la vista, taxman."

Peace has broken out in Britain's leafy suburbs and town centers. One joyous Cornish Member of Parliament said there'd be "dancing in the streets."

But the message to our politicians is clear.

There is, after all, a line you cannot cross.  Our trains may not run when it rains or snows; you may not get through airport passport controls for hours; but mess with our favourite foods and we WILL bite back.

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