Police made arrests on Monday night after hundreds of people who had gathered to oppose the passage of a new policing bill and to highlight violence against women marched through central London. The police, crime, sentencing and courts bill, which had its second reading on Monday afternoon, has been criticised by civil society groups as “an attack on some of the most fundamental rights of citizens”. It will give new powers to police to control protests and impose stiff sentences for rule-breakers. Protests around the bill have become entwined with those in response to the death of Sarah Everard, who disappeared from a street in south London at the beginning of March. A serving police officer has been charged with her kidnap and murder. After a rally addressed by MPs in Parliament Square on Monday, attended by several thousand people, protesters marched a winding route through Westminster and Lambeth chanting “all cops are bastards” and “whose streets? our streets” and causing serious disruption to traffic. They blockaded Westminster Bridge twice and massed outside the Metropolitan police headquarters at New Scotland Yard. Police trailed the protest for several hours, ordering those taking part to return home. The Guardian witnessed several people being arrested for breaching coronavirus regulations. The Met has not yet replied to a request for information on the number of arrests. Activists from a number of movements, including Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion, Stop HS2, and various antifascist groups, had called for supporters to gather in Parliament square from 12pm. However, the event was dominated by activists from the feminist group Sisters Uncut, the group behind Saturday night’s vigil for Everard on Clapham Common in south London, which was dispersed by police using heavy-handed tactics that prompted widespread outrage. The group staged a second mass protest on Sunday where they called for supporters to attend Monday’s march. The Labour MPs Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Nadia Whittome and Apsana Begum were among the speakers who addressed the crowd in Parliament Square. Ribeiro-Addy drew cheers when she announced she had tabled an amendment to stop the new policing bill, which will be heard on Tuesday. She told the Guardian: “The strength of feeling across our country shows that speaking at a demonstration like this is really important. It’s a real shame when politicians don’t reflect the mood of communities that we say that we represent. There’s people that are angry, women in particular that are angry, right across the country and pushing through a bill that clearly has no public support – it’s just more of the same with the Tories. I’m here to support protesters; I’m here to support the right to protest.” Whittome was attending her second protest in two days outside parliament. She said: “We’re here for two reasons. One is to stand against male violence, whether that’s the hand of the state, partners or institutions. We are here to honour the lives of women who have been murdered by men … And we are here to resist. “I was here yesterday and I’m here today because we have got to keep resisting this government’s descent into authoritarianism, today, tomorrow and the day after. If this bill passes this will be the biggest crackdown on the right to protest; it will criminalise ‘serious annoyance’ or ‘serious inconvenience’. The whole point of protest is that you don’t ask permission to protest.”