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Police have invoked blanket stop-and-search powers around the area of the Royal Wedding as they monitored 70 protesters.
Suspected anarchists were apparently seen putting masks on in central London's Soho Square.
At least 43 people were arrested along the route where the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge later passed after their marriage ceremony, Sky sources have learned.
The alleged offences committed by those arrested included breach of the peace, drunk and disorderly, handling stolen goods and possession of an offensive weapon.
A 38-year-old man suspected of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl on The Mall was also among the arrests.
It comes amid a huge £20m security operation, as police and the military faced the threat of terrorists, anarchists and stalkers.
Sky sources earlier revealed 21 suspected anarchists had been banned from Westminster for the day's events.
Each of the 21 have been bailed by police, while three others arrested in raids on premises - mostly squats - in London, Sussex and Cambridgeshire, are still in custody.
A ring of steel was thrown around Westminster Abbey where thousands of well-wishers gathered to catch a glimpse of the happy couple.
Armed police and undercover squads of special forces mingled with the crowds to combat any attempt to disrupt the event.
Marksmen took up position on roofs along the ceremonial route as search teams and sniffer dogs carried out a final check of vulnerable locations.
More than 80 VIPs were given close-protection bodyguards.
Police insisted they had no intelligence of a specific terrorism threat, although the UK remains on the second-highest alert to an attack from al Qaeda and a substantial risk of a strike from dissident Irish republicans.
Scotland Yard had warned it would launch a pre-emptive strike against any suspected troublemakers.
A squatter caught up in one raid in South London said: "The idea that the anarchist community or squatting community is mobilising for the Royal Wedding is insane.
"I think the real motive for this is to lead an assault on the squatting community.
"It is political policing which is designed to be theatrical and which damages people's lives in the process."
This is a day of celebration and there should be no place for disruption. But we are ready to deal quickly, robustly and decisively with any trouble. Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Lynne Owens
MP John McDonnell urged the Home Office to explain the raids, branding them "a disproportionate use of force."
A secretive unit of police and psychiatrists, the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre, had identified and warned off several people with obsessions about members of the Royal Family.
Five thousand police were on duty, most of them stationed along the wedding route with others on stand-by to deal with any trouble on the fringes. They were joined by Army, Navy and Air Force personnel.
Scotland Yard assistant commissioner Lynne Owens said: "This is a day of celebration and there should be no place for disruption. But we are ready to deal quickly, robustly and decisively with any trouble."
Another senior officer said he hoped an unofficial army of "Royalist middle-Englanders" lining the route would deter any spontaneous protesters.
SKYNEWS
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