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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
National
Imogen Braddick

Police make 19 arrests at anti-lockdown protest in Hyde Park

Nineteen people have been arrested during a protest against coronavirus lockdown measures in Hyde Park, the Metropolitan Police said.

A further 10 people were issued with on-the-spot fines after a "relatively small group" of people gathered in the central London park on Saturday.

The arrests include the brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Piers Corbyn, who was taken away in handcuffs after he joined protesters with a megaphone, proclaiming that 5G and the coronavirus pandemic were linked.

Mr Corbyn said “5G enhances anyone who’s got illness from Covid," and called the lockdown a “pack of lies to brainwash you and keep you in order”.

Ten protesters were also handed on-the-spot fines (Getty Images)

He was taken away after declining to leave when asked by a police officer and declining to give his details when asked.

Standing near Speaker's Corner at the north-eastern end of the park, protesters brandished banners reading "this is not about a virus, this is about control" and "no to the new abnormal".

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said most protesters were "largely compliant" with Government guidance on social distancing.

“With the easing of restrictions we fully expected open spaces to be busy this weekend," she said.

“It was pleasing to see that people were largely compliant with the Government guidance. Where they weren’t, and after we engaged with them, they quickly were.

Around 50 people attended the protest (Getty Images)

“It was disappointing that a relatively small group in Hyde Park came together to protest the regulations in clear breach of the guidance, putting themselves and others at risk of infection.

“Officers once again, took a measured approach and tried to engage the group to disperse.

"They clearly had no intention of doing so, and so it did result in 19 people being arrested, and a further ten being issued with a fixed penalty notice.”

Protester David Samson, 50, who said he works in finance, said he came to the demonstration because: “I never thought I’d see in my generation the suppressing of civil rights” over a “fake virus”.

Another demonstrator, 62-year-old Catherine Harvey, said she wanted to highlight the “devastation this lockdown has caused”.

She said she had been forced to close her shop on Columbia Road Flower Market, adding: “The effects of the lockdown are far, far worse than the virus – mental health, domestic violence, shops are closed, theatres, cinemas, restaurants. It’s unnecessary.”

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