{"id":120045,"date":"2021-04-25T12:22:33","date_gmt":"2021-04-25T04:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=120045"},"modified":"2021-04-25T12:22:35","modified_gmt":"2021-04-25T04:22:35","slug":"covid-19-five-arrests-and-police-injured-at-anti-lockdown-protests-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=120045","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19: Five arrests and police injured at anti-lockdown protests in London"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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LONDON, April 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Police in London said they arrested five people, and eight officers were injured, after disorder at large-scale protests against England\u2019s remaining coronavirus restrictions, the mandatory use of masks and possible introduction of so-called vaccine passports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demonstrators had gathered early Saturday afternoon and marched along several major arteries, including the main shopping district Oxford Street, with videos and photos showing thousands in attendance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds then rallied in Hyde Park later following the march, where \u201csmall pockets of disorder\u201d broke out, according to London\u2019s Metropolitan Police Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEight officers were injured as they worked to disperse crowds in Hyde Park this evening,\u201d it said, adding that missiles including bottles were thrown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTwo officers were taken to hospital. Thankfully, they are not believed to be seriously injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFive people were arrested for offences including assault on police and are now in custody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Britain began to gradually lift Covid-19 restrictions in March after months of restrictions and a successful mass vaccination campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pubs were allowed to serve customers outdoors this month and non-essential shops reopened, but some curbs remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organisers used various websites and online platform pages to encourage turnout to protest the pandemic measures, despite rules which limit outdoor gatherings to 30 people among them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An exception for protests carries requirements including a Covid-19 risk assessment being conducted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone coming into London for a protest must make sure their gathering is lawful, with a risk assessment carried out by the organiser,\u201d the Met had said warned on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-lockdown protests by hundreds or even thousands have occurred sporadically during the pandemic, often resulting in a small number of arrests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

England\u2019s latest Covid-19 lockdown measures have been in place since early January, after the UK saw a surge in cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Months of restrictions alongside the successful vaccine rollout \u2014 with more than 45 million doses administered \u2014 has seen the situation improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pandemic indicators such as infections, hospitalisations and deaths are at levels not seen since last September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another major easing is due in mid-May, when some indoor socialising can resume, before nearly all restrictions are ended in late June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government is looking at introducing a passport scheme for a variety of settings, including leisure and hospitality as well as foreign travel, to verify if people have been vaccinated or have immunity from the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Britain has been among the hardest hit in Europe by Covid-19, recording more than 127,000 deaths within 28 days of a positive test. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON, April 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Police in London said they arrested five people, and eight officers were injured, after disorder at large-scale protests against England\u2019s remaining coronavirus restrictions, the mandatory use of masks and possible introduction of so-called vaccine passports. Demonstrators had gathered early Saturday afternoon and marched along several major arteries, including the main […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":120047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[209],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120045"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=120045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/120047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=120045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=120045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=120045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}