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Source: PA Images
LONDON POLICE has urged hundreds of protesters to immediately abandon a protest against vaccines and the lockdown in Trafalgar Square or face arrest.
The warning came after heated clashes between protesters and officials during a “Resist and Act for Freedom” rally this afternoon.
Dozens of officers, including some on horseback, were repelled by human blockades with loud cheers and chants as they attempted to make arrests.
Scotland Yard said large crowds of people are “putting themselves and others at risk” just one day after London Mayor Sadiq Khan warned that it is “increasingly likely” that restrictions will be needed to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the capital, adding that “Extremely concerned” about the transmission rate in London.
The number of cases per 100,000 people over seven days is reported to have risen in London from 18.8 to around 25.
Protesters form a chain during an anti-vax protest in Trafalgar Square.
A statement from the Metropolitan Police said that there had been “pockets of hostility and outbreaks of violence towards the officers” and added: “Now we will take measures to disperse those who remain in the area. Those who stay can be arrested. “
He continued: “It is important to remember that we are still in the midst of a global pandemic, and changes have been introduced to help control the spread of the virus, keep everyone safe and save lives.
“We encourage attendees to leave the area immediately.”
Traffic around Trafalgar Square stopped during the demonstration, and a protester was reportedly seen spitting through the open window of a taxi whose driver had honked his horn in frustration.
The rally organizers sold 5G conspiracy theories and cannabis legalization T-shirts, with banners calling for the firing of government scientific advisers and declaring Covid-19 a “hoax.”
Addressing the crowd with loud applause, organizer Kate Shemirani said: “We are the resistance.”
The protest was publicized with an image showing a vaccine bottle and urging people to “unite, resist and act.”
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A speaker at the rally, Professor Dolores Cahill of University College Dublin (UCD), voiced the view that the coronavirus vaccine will “make people sick”, going against mainstream scientific opinion.
UCD has previously disassociated itself from views on Covid-19 issued by Professor Cahill, who also chairs the Eurosceptic Irish Freedom Party.
Vaccines are the most effective way to prevent infectious diseases and have virtually eradicated smallpox, polio and tetanus in the UK, says the NHS.
But if people stop getting vaccinated, diseases can quickly spread again, he said, pointing to an increase in measles and mumps between 2016 and 2018.
There is no evidence that vaccines cause autism, allergies or other conditions, weaken the immune system in any way, or contain harmful ingredients, it adds.
The World Health Organization says that immunization prevents two to three million deaths per year.
The protests are exempt from new legal restrictions introduced Monday that limit groups to six, but only if they are “organized according to the Covid-19 Secure guide,” the government said.
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