London Anti-Lockdown Protest

On Saturday the 28th of November, hundreds of protesters headed into central London in an attempt to show their anger and displeasure at the current lockdown regulations.
From the offset, the police use a tactic of isolate and disrupt. The location to which the protesters were supposed to meet continuously changed throughout the day; owing to the rapid response and arrests of the police. Due to the new lockdown laws police were able to arrest anyone who had a banner or showed any sign of protesting and they used this newfound power to significant effect. Anyone who so much as started a chant or raised a sign was arrested.
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When I asked one of the liaison officers what was happening at Kings Cross, one of the supposed meeting points for protesters. He replied; 'a load of idiots who don't believe in Covid want to meet here, and we are going to arrest them'. Arrest them they did, there were more than 150 arrests on Saturday, and I ended up walking over 15km trying to keep up with the ever-moving police.

One of the difficulties that the protesters had was the lack of cohesion. I asked many protesters why they were in London, and I got such a broad array of answers. Some were anti-lockdown, some were anti-mask, some were anti-vaccine, and some didn't believe in Covid at all. The protesters didn't have one voice and, except for a gathering in Hyde park toward the end of the day, the protesters were spread all around different parts of London attempting to link up.
Saturday was a great example of what the police can achieve with more powers; however, the debate is whether they should have these powers at all. I am not a protestor, and I can't entirely agree with the protesters in many ways; however, the power the police had to arrest anyone they wanted was frightening. As lockdown ends in a few days, maybe we can reflect and give out a sigh of relief that the police in the UK will not have these unprecedented powers for much longer.

Footage from the day: