Theresa May is to ask the police whether they need stronger powers to ban known hooligans from marches and to order the removal of face masks, in the aftermath of the violence following the anti-cuts protest on Saturday.

"I want to condemn in the strongest terms the mindless behaviour of the thugs responsible for the violence," the home secretary said of the violent clashes in the West End and Trafalgar Square that took place away from the TUC- organised march.

She told MPs that 56 officers were injured during the London protests, including 12 who needed hospital treatment, and that she expected the total of 149 people charged to rise as the police go through the video evidence, as was the case after last December's student protests.

May won the backing of Labour for a swift Home Office review of police powers to deal with the "few hundred mindless idiots", but any changes could face practical problems.

Opposition MPs, meanwhile, were irritated by the home secretary's failure to distance herself from a claim by Boris Johnson, the London mayor, that Ed Miliband would have been "quietly satisfied" with the violent protest scenes.

May disclosed the review of police powers when she answered an urgent Commons question on the policing of the anti-cuts march. It is believed that she only went to the Commons reluctantly at the insistence of Downing Street who wanted to volunteer a full statement.

She said the Home Office review would look at whether the police feel they need further powers to prevent violence before it occurs. She said that the police operation had, on the whole, been a success even if they had not managed to prevent every act of violence.

The police had, however, been successful in preventing wider criminality.

May said: "I am willing to consider powers which would ban known hooligans from attending rallies and marches. And I will look into the powers that the police already have to force the removal of face coverings and balaclavas. If the police need more help to do their work, I will not hesitate in granting it to them."

Her sentiments were strongly supported by the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, who said it was vital that a violent minority were not allowed to undermine the power of peaceful political protest. "These incidents have been increasing every time there is a crowd event and frankly people are fed up of it," said Cooper. "Co-ordinated and determined action was successful some years ago in tackling football hooliganism which used to hijack crowds and frustrate ordinary fans." Powers to ban football hooligans from attending future matches or from travelling abroad could be used as a template for banning violent hooligans from attending marches. But there are some serious practical difficulties involved.

It is one thing to ban someone from attending a particular football ground where everybody can be screened going through a turnstile or from travelling abroad by confiscating their passport. But it is another thing to ban someone from going to a city centre.

It may be however that an extended power could prove useful in dealing with persistent offenders so that the penalties they face on being arrested for public disorder or criminal damage offences could escalate because they have already been issued with a banning order.

The review of the power of the police to order protesters to remove face masks follows a complaint by Metropolitan police commissioner, Lynne Owens, that they had tried to do this late on Saturday afternoon - but those involved simply put them back on again.

The power comes from section 60aa of the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act which allows the police to order people involved in violent or intimidatory protests to remove disguises or any face coverings they are using to conceal their identity. Police already have the power to seize the face covering but there is no separate stop and search power for disguises.

The numbers game

The home secretary, Theresa May, surprised some when she told the Commons that up to 500,000 people went on the TUC's anti-cuts march on Saturday.

It is a well-established practice for official and police estimates of any big demonstration to halve the organisers' estimate. Journalists have been known to simply pick the number halfway between the two as likely to be closest to the truth. In this case the TUC forecast that 250,000 might turn out. Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, in his speech to the rally simply spoke of "tens of thousands". Afterwards the TUC estimated that 400,000-500,000 had marched.

So it was refreshing to hear a home secretary accept her opponents' estimate of the size of the march - and then get on to discussing more contentious matters.