Dozens were arrested by London police on Saturday as thousands marched through the city’s streets in protest of COVID restrictions.
Anti-lockdown Londoners became violent and threw bottles and cans at police officers who were trying to maintain order violating coronavirus regulations during the protest, Sky News reported.
Officers were reportedly forced to run back to their vehicles as about 100 people violently chased them and punched and kicked the officers they came in contact with.
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The protest revolved around Hyde Park and continued into Oxford Street, but about 100w riot police with helmets and shields were forced to descend on the royal park as people became aggressive as it got darker.
Protesters shout at police ‘ashamed’, while others carry banners saying ‘stop destroying our children’s lives’ and ‘Yes, sex is great, but have you ever been hampered by the government?’ reports the London publication, The Evening Standard.
Metropolitan police said on Twitter on Saturday afternoon: “Officers will act when necessary.”
“Co-officials are working with those gathering in Piccadilly and other areas of central London to protest, explaining that we are living in a public health crisis and urging people to disperse or go home,” they wrote.
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Leaders of the Labor Party, a center-left political party in the UK, are leading the march to protest Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s strict COVID measures.
London has been in the lock since December 20, but England would start again on March 29, with groups of six people or less meeting outside.
Stores would only start reopening on April 12, the BBC reports, but it is unclear whether the densely populated city of London would follow the revision of the country’s guidelines.
Saturday’s protest took place a few days after 60 MPs wrote a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel warning of the criminalization of protests, reports The Evening Standard.
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The letter states that it ‘is not acceptable and that it is probably not legal’, that the police should prevent people from protesting. The letter follows the dissolution of Sarah Everard’s vigilance last week by the Metropolitan Police, a London woman who was abducted and killed by a police officer.