25 April 2021

Eight officers injured as police attacked at anti-lockdown protest in London

25 April 2021

Eight police officers were injured as they attempted to disperse anti-lockdown protesters in Hyde Park.

Demonstrators hurled bottles on Saturday evening after a march and rally that featured banners with messages including: “You don’t need proof to know truth.”

Photographs posted on social media showed a female police officer bleeding from a cut to her head while another suffered a similar wound on his forehead.

Coronavirus – Sat Apr 24, 2021 (PA Wire)

The Met said two officers were taken to hospital, although their injuries are not believed to be serious.

Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation – which represents thousands of rank-and-file Scotland Yard officers – said: “We can assure everyone that we shall be raising the scenes we witnessed in Hyde Park yesterday with senior management in the Metropolitan Police with utmost urgency.

“The safety of our police officers should be top of the agenda. We wish all our injured colleagues a swift recovery and will be supporting them as best as we can.”

The protest, which also took place on Oxford Street, came almost two weeks after Covid-19 lockdown restrictions were eased.

The Met said five people were arrested for offences including assault on police and public order offences.

Mr Marsh added: “Peaceful protest may well be the cornerstone of democracy – and police officers have a role in facilitating that – but the scenes we saw in Hyde Park yesterday of a thin blue line of brave and sadly bloodied police officers coming under attack from thugs were anything but peaceful.

Coronavirus – Sat Apr 24, 2021 (PA Wire)

“Police officers are human beings who go out every day to keep people safe.

“Many people seem to have forgotten that right now but we will keep reminding them.

“Our colleagues have every right to go home to their families at the end of their shifts. Not to hospital.”

Mr Marsh pointed out the country is still in the middle of a pandemic, adding “our unvaccinated police officers deserve greater protection”.

Meanwhile, an expert said anti-lockdown protesters who touch, shout and shun masks are “at the very least a potential risk” to the spread of coronavirus, adding there is some evidence of mass events having an impact.

Professor Stephen Reicher, from the University of St Andrews and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (Spi-B), which advises ministers, said counties in the US which held Trump rallies saw bigger spikes in infection than those who did not.

He told the PA news agency: “Moreover, the mass election rallies in India and the permission to bring huge religious festivals forward from 2022 to 2021 (the Kumbh Mela at Haridwar) is one explanation for the huge rise of cases in India.

“Much depends on how people behave in these events. If they maintain distance and wear masks, there is little danger.

“If they explicitly ignore restrictions, if they reject masks, stand close together, touch, shout and sing, then – going back to first principles – there is likely to be a risk.

“Given that the anti-lockdown protests do all of these things, they are at the very least a potential risk.”

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