A HUGE number of anti-lockdown protesters marched through central London before descending on Downing Street on Saturday.
They called for ‘freedom’ and the end to all Covid lockdown regulations, the vaccine and vaccine passports.
They also demanded the arrest of Matt Hancock, who resigned on Saturday after he was caught breaching Covid safety regulations. The former health secretary is accused of hypocrisy over images showing him canoodling with his aide Gina Coladangelo at the Department for Health, despite championing draconian restrictions on ordinary citizens.
The Mail Online reports: People young and old all took part in the anti-lockdown demonstration, which saw people railing against lockdown restrictions, the coronavirus vaccine and Covid passports, which will be used to show travellers’ Covid vaccination status when abroad.
One woman stuck a string of face masks together to make a sign that read ‘freedom is not for trade’ while another protester brandished a placard reading ‘mask wearing zombies wake up or comply and die’.
After marching through well-known shopping destinations in central London, the protesters converged with Free Palestine protesters in Parliament Square on Saturday afternoon.
Police officers formed a line hoping to block the majority of marchers from filling the square, directing them instead back down Parliament Street.
Shirley Jones, a librarian from Crystal Palace, urged Boris Johnson to ‘sack the philandering and rule breaking’ after Mr Hancock was accused of hypocrisy for breaching Covid regulations to kiss his married aide.
She said: ‘I’d rather be doing something else with my weekend but I’m going to keep coming on these protests because I don’t trust what the Government is doing.
‘I don’t believe in wearing masks and I don’t believe in the vaccine, especially given my Caribbean heritage and the history of slavery.
‘There’s a huge mix of people here, all backgrounds and ages, yet what they’re saying is being ignored. The numbers who attend are always undermined.
‘We want the lockdown to end but we also want Boris Johnson to sack the philandering and rule breaking. He’s behind all of these rules and he didn’t even follow them himself.’
Kayleigh Brooke, 29, from Manchester, said she has been camped out for four weeks on Clapham Common in protest against the vaccine rollout.
Ms Brooke said she is taking part in the march because of her concerns around children getting the jab.
‘We want the Coronavirus Act 2020 gone, and we will keep on protesting until that happens.’
Drums, whistling and chanting could be heard for some distance around, while flags could be seen flying high above the crowds as they moved through central London.
One speaker stood on a plinth near Embankment Station and told crowds: ‘We are here to take our freedom back.’
Participant Iain McCausland travelled to London from Devon to attend the rally as he said the Covid lockdown has come at the cost of ‘liberty’.
He said: ‘The main reason I’m here is because I feel this lockdown has come at the cost of our liberty and rights.
‘Our freedom to assemble, our freedom to travel, and work. I’m really quite angry with the Government, so are everyone here.’
There was a party atmosphere as the crowds headed down the Embankment past New Scotland Yard earlier on Saturday, while a DJ also played music out of the back of a lorry as the crowds weaved through the streets.
Photographs showed police officers walking through the crowds of thousands of anti-lockdown protesters as they stopped to gather in Hyde Park, while police motorbikes were seen in front of the crowds on Oxford Street.
