A democracy campaigner accused the Metropolitan Police of abuse of force yesterday after being left with a twisted knee, ankle and severe bruising following his arrest at a meditation session on Westminster’s Parliament Square.

Donnachadh McCarthy was one of the three people arrested next to Gandhi’s statue on Monday evening as the Occupy Democracy camp defied the ban on camping equipment in an “act of Gandhian civil disobedience.”

When under arrest, Mr McCarthy was allegedly left without legal advice or food until released on bail. “We did a meditation and they allowed us to sit on the tarpaulin and at the end of the meditation I said: “We are here in the spirit of Gandhian civil disobedience and all over the world Occupy is represented by tents.

“So I put a pop-up tent in the middle of the circle of the meditation and a number of us sat in the middle of the tent and we chanted.”

Police then kettled protesters and dragged Mr McCarthy and others into vans. “To actually have picture of kettling taking place at the seat of Gandhi’s statue it’s really mind-blowing,” added the former Lib Dem deputy chair.

Mr McCarthy, who has been arrested several times at Occupy Democracy protests since last November, said many victories had been made by the group despite police violence.

“We have reclaimed the right to sit on a piece of plastic, we reclaimed the right to occupy the square,” he said, adding: “Whereas tents are obviously the grenade they are terrified of.”

Earlier this year, human rights group Liberty joined forces with Occupy Democracy launching a judicial review of the mayor of London’s decision to fence off Parliament Square.

Occupy Democracy’s camp is set to stay put in front of Parliament until after the general election.