LONDON: As many as six people were arrested and four police officers were injured during anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine protest in Central London on Saturday, the Metropolitan Police has said.
“The mostly peaceful demonstrations in Central London have finished. My thanks to the crowds who engaged with us and my colleagues for their hard work. There were 6 arrests for a range of offences and unacceptably 4 officers injured. I wish them a speedy recovery,” Commander Catherine Roper, the Metropolitan Police crime prevention, inclusion and engagement lead, said.
Earlier, the officer had informed that one demonstrator was arrested after throwing a bottle at police officers outside Downing Street.
“A demonstrator has been arrested outside Downing Street after throwing a bottle at police officers. Violence will not be tolerated. We encourage the remaining crowd to continue their demonstration peacefully,” she tweeted.
Police were also seen engaging with crowds in Parliament Square, who were causing a disruption.
This comes as Covid-19 restrictions were lifted in the UK on Monday. However, authorities still recommend wearing face masks and using the NHS Covid-Pass. On Saturday, scores of people gathered in central London to protest against vaccination and the coronavirus pass.
Britain has reported another 31,795 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, according to the government figures released on Saturday.
Local officials in Nanjing said that seven of those infected were in critical condition.
The new spike in cases has led some on Chinese social media to speculate about whether the Chinese vaccines were working against the Delta variant.
It is unclear if those infected were vaccinated.
A number of South East Asian countries relying on Chinese vaccines have recently announced they will use other jabs.
China has so far managed to keep the virus largely under control by closing borders and moving quickly to stamp out local outbreaks.
