Video: Anonymous protest against austerity at the Guildhall

One of the members, all of whom were wearing Guy Fawkes masks, said their purpose was to fight back against benefit cuts and the privatisation of public services.

“We’ve got a bedroom tax coming here, which is going to affect the poorest in our society,” one of the protestors said.

“The people, who are going to suffer most are the elderly, the working poor, the unemployed, the disabled and their children.

“We have an NHS service, which is recognised worldwide as the best health service in the world: it’s facing crisis and we think it’s heading towards privatisation on the model of the American system, which nobody wants,” he added.

The group said it believed Ireland and the United Kingdom were wealthy societies but that inequality was growing.

“We don’t believe there’s a need for austerity. We believe there’s enough money out there. Because the bankers played roulette with large sums of money and brought the world to its knees the poor should pay for that?

“We don’t think so and we want to encourage other people to come and join us on the street and make their voices heard and say to the establishment, ‘We don’t accept it, the money’s out there, let’s get it circulating.’”