Around 200 anti-capitalist protesters entered Parliament Square as they linked with a group supporting activists who had recreated the famous 1936 Jarrow March for Jobs.
Police made two arrests as the demonstrators - some of whom wore Guy Fawkes masks to mark bonfire night - were contained outside the Houses of Parliament.
Earlier around 20 young people finished the 330-mile trek from the North East to London to highlight how Government cuts were "affecting everyone apart from the rich", and they were joined by hundreds of supporters for a rally in Temple and at Trafalgar Square.
The Parliament Square group had marched from St Paul's Cathedral, where a camp has been set-up by activists under the name Occupy London Stock Exchange.
Brief scuffles broke out as police stopped them moving down Whitehall from Trafalgar Square, but the protesters found a way to Parliament Square by going through St James' Park. The demonstration was largely well behaved.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said they numbered around 200 initially, but by 6.30pm some had departed. One of the demonstrators was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and another for unlawful protest.
Meanwhile Youth Fight for Jobs, which organised the Jarrow march, handed in a petition at 10 Downing Street calling for a huge Government job scheme, apprenticeships, the reinstatement of Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), the reopening of axed youth services and action on tuition fees.
Lizi Grey, whose great-grandfather Michael McLoughlin took part in the original march 75 years ago, was among those in the protest march, which started on October 1.
The 17-year-old college student from Gateshead said: "The stories I've heard from his son - my grandfather - were that they were very well received in all of the towns that they went to, and we have had the same experience.
"I think a lot of that is to do with communities feeling that the cuts are starting to bite and it's affecting everyone apart from the rich and the people making the decisions."