Police and protesters clash in London with 16 arrested during anti-vaccine rally
- Among the speakers in the square was conspiracy theorist David Icke, who took the stage to loud applause
- Protesters held up placards with messages including ‘No to mandatory vaccines’ and ‘Covid-1984’
Sixteen people were arrested and nine police officers injured on Saturday after hundreds of anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination protesters rallied in central London.
The crowd gathered in Trafalgar Square, listening to speeches, until the Metropolitan Police dispersed them, sparking some clashes with protesters.
Many demonstrators walked to join another group in Hyde Park, where the police again ordered them to disperse after warning that they had breached Britain's Covid-19 law, which allows protests subject to social-distancing rules.
The police said they also dispersed protesters in Hyde Park on Saturday night.
The 16 people arrested at the two sites were suspected of offences including breaching coronavirus regulations, assault, public order offences and violent disorder, they said.
Two of the nine injured police officers required hospital treatment for head injuries, the police said.
Commander Ade Adelekan, who led Saturday’s police operation, said the protesters failed, despite repeated requests, to “maintain social distancing and keep each other safe.”
“In the interest of public safety, officers then worked quickly to disperse crowds,” Adelekan said in a statement, adding that most protesters “listened to officers and went home.”
“However, I am very frustrated to see that nine officers were injured during clashes with a small minority of protesters,” he said.
Among the main speakers in the square was eccentric conspiracy theorist David Icke, who took the stage to loud applause and chants of “Freedom! Freedom!” at the “We do not consent” rally.
Protesters held up placards with messages including “No to mandatory vaccines” and “Covid-1984,” a reference to George Orwell's dystopian novel, “1984.”
“We have come here today to put on a public display of individual and collective self-respect … for self-respect always triggers the power of no,” Icke, a former professional footballer, told the crowd.
“We will not hand control of our lives and our children's lives to [people like] the UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock,” he said.
“We stand amid extraordinary, almost unimaginable deceit.”
Icke told the police officers watching the protest that they were “trapped by the psychopaths into enforcing fascism.”
Icke's Facebook account was closed in May because he circulated misleading claims about the coronavirus pandemic.
Another speaker, Sandi Adams, told the protesters that global governments want to develop “surveillance capitalism” in which “the ultimate goal is to merge us with the AI [artificial intelligence].”
“If it means throwing away our [electronic] devices, can we do that to save the human race?” she asked, drawing a muted response.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces cross-party opposition in parliament from about 40 lawmakers, including several prominent members of his Conservatives, who are trying to force the government to hold votes on Covid-19 restrictions.
Some of the lawmakers oppose the government's restrictions while others are concerned by the principle of new legislation being introduced with little parliamentary consultation.
Britain reported 6,042 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, taking its total to some 430,000 since March.
Its official death toll linked to Covid-19 is nearly 42,000, Europe's highest total.
