Tens of thousands of Taiwanese protesters took to the streets of Taipei yesterday demanding that President Ma Ying-jeou ditch a trade pact with China.

The protesters, many wearing headbands reading: “Defend democracy, retract service trade pact,” crowded streets leading to the presidential office, despite fresh concessions offered by President Ma.

Around 3,500 police were deployed after violent clashes on March 23 when more than 100 people were injured as riot police repelled a bid to storm government buildings with batons and water cannon.

Organisers had aimed to attract more than 100,000 people to yesterday’s protest and an initial estimate of the crowd was around 87,000.

Around 200 student-led demonstrators have occupied parliament’s main chamber for nearly two weeks in a bid to stop the trade pact with China.

President Ma, who has continually sought closer ties with China since becoming the island’s leader in 2008, said on Saturday that he would agree to the passage of a law to monitor all agreements with China.

But he rejected the protesters’ main demand that the service trade agreement signed with China in June last year be retracted, saying it could “cause too much damage to Taiwan.”

But the protesters claim the deal will damage Taiwan’s economy and leave it vulnerable to political pressure from China.